The President/Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has been conferred with the Commander of the Order of Merit of Niger award by President of the Republic of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, in Niamey.
According to the certificate of conferment presented to Dangote in Niamey, the nation’s capital, the award was in appreciation for his services rendered to the country as well as a tribute to his business acumen and philanthropy.
His foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) has intervened in several ways to improve healthcare and routine immunisation in Niger and neighbouring countries like Cameroon and Chad.
Recall that Dangote had earlier been conferred with the Commander of the National Order of Valour of the Republic of Cameroon, and the Grand Commander of the National Order of the Republic of Benin.
In a related development, Aliko Dangote Foundation, alongside the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and GAVI, The Vaccine Alliance have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Niger on a collaboration for improving the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in Diffa, Maradi and Zinder regions, which are along the country’s southern border with Nigeria.
The Nigerien national award by the president is in recognition of the various health-related interventions by Dangote’s foundation, including financial support to the tune of $500,000 to help fight Meningitis and cholera outbreak; N250 million for the provision of food for refugees and displaced persons and $1 million support for enhanced routine immunisation in the three identified regions of Diffa, Maradi and Zinder.
The three regions of Diffa, Maradi and Zinder share a common border with Northern Nigeria and together make up almost 28 per cent of Niger’s land area and about 40 per cent of the country’s population.
