Rich Nigerians should emulate Dangote

There are genuine philanthropist’s as there are rare white eagle. However, one name that is easily recognizable as a leading philanthropist is that of Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the industrialist who is known more for his giant strides in the business community as the President of the Dangote Group. Miss Catherine is a 32-year-old unemployed Abuja […]

There are genuine philanthropist’s as there are rare white eagle. However, one name that is easily recognizable as a leading philanthropist is that of Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the industrialist who is known more for his giant strides in the business community as the President of the Dangote Group.

Miss Catherine is a 32-year-old unemployed Abuja resident whom I ran into while researching materials for this piece and who even confided in me that her life ambition is to have the uncommon luck of benefiting from the benevolence of Aliko Dangote.

It took her less than an hour to reel out the catalogue of her encounters as a young university graduate of political science who came to Abuja for her youth service eight years ago with the hope that she could land herself a decent job soon after the one year compulsory national service which she did at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity.

Her saddest experience was that only about few hours before I reached her, the notorious Environmental Task Force from the Federal Capital Territory Administration confiscated her umbrella and recharge cards worth over N200,000 in the guise of enforcing the so-called law against street trading.

There are hundreds of thousands of our young people who are unemployed, poor, hopeless and homeless who are all over the place desperately looking for ways that they can approach reputable philanthropists like Aliko Dangote for a life to become self reliant and to liberate themselves from slavery, poverty, misery and want, who have become the lots of most young unemployed graduates in Nigeria. If truth be told, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has built an image for himself as one among the few genuine and credible rich persons who have successfully synergized industry with philanthropy.

A national newspaper, on September 27, 2011, ran a story that Alhaji Dangote’s total donations to assist victims of social crisis reached an all-time high of N524.7 million. He gave out the sums directly to persons and institutions affected by natural and man-made disasters, like floods in Lagos and Oyo States and the recent bloody post-Election violence in parts of Northern Nigeria. Dangote also displayed his benevolent angle not too long ago in Sokoto when he assisted hundreds of villagers displaced by flood with tons of cash and relief materials worth several hundreds of millions of naira.

Dangote’s benevolence wears no ethnic or religious garb. Such virtues are rare in an oasis of self-centered rich persons as is the case in our clime.  Pausing a while to reflect on the dearth of genuine, credible and humane philanthropists in Nigeria, it struck one that the commitment of  this Kano-born business executive to charity , is usually made directly to very poor persons who are in no position to increase the profit margin of the chain of investments of Alhaji Dangote.

Responding to the question “what is the true meaning of philanthropy?” Kent Holden, in April 2007, stated the obvious that a real philanthropist gives without expecting pay back from the beneficiaries. His words; “How do we envision and peruse our philanthropic calling? Do we think primarily in terms of cash flow in, and tithing out? Do we measure our success in terms of revenue, and therefore our contribution based on the ruling of the calculator? If so, we have fallen into a deep trap, one that can make our lives devoid of heart and energy. That is the trap of pursuing what we think is good for us, instead of what we know is great for all of us. Being a true philanthropist, then, begins with acknowledging the spark of creativity and potential that is our gift to declare and share. Radiate outwards from that point! Then, when you choose to give materially, you will be giving only a small expression of infinite love within”.

It beats my imagination that rich persons in Nigeria would rather embark on elaborate and very expensive birthday ceremonies rather than emulate the shining examples of people like Alhaji Dangote in whom industry and philanthropy means the same.  It is in the self-enlightened interest of rich Nigerians to become genuine, credible and transparent givers like Aliko Dangote because their investments are not safe if the greater population of the citizenry are left to wander endlessly in poverty, hunger and unemployment. It is not a fluke when people say that if the poor cannot sleep because they are hungry, then the rich will also not sleep because the poor people are awake. A stitch in time saves nine.

Emmanuel Onwubiko heads the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria and writes from [email protected]; www.huriwa.blogspot.com.