Nigerian billionaire businessman and founder, BUA group, Mr. Abdul Samad Rabiu, has launched the Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative with an Annual African Fund of $100 million every year, starting from 2021.
The fund is aimed to aid development across Nigeria and the rest of the continent as well as unlocking sustainable development opportunities in Africa, by Africans focused on the area of education, health and social development.
According to a statement by the ASR Africa Initiative, $50 million would be dedicated to Nigeria yearly while $50 million would go to the rest of Africa.
Part of the statement reads: “It is with the blessings of the Almighty, my family, colleagues, the support of my community and the backing of my conscience, that I announce the launch of the Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative, with an Africa Fund endowment of USD100 million every year starting from this year, 2021; USD 50million to Nigeria and USD 50million to the rest of our beloved continent.
“With the Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative and its annual $100 million Africa Fund for Social Development, we are specifically extending this work to the education, health and social development sectors, starting with infrastructure and capacity development in these areas and supporting the efforts of various governments in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Our broad focus is equipping facilities, our researchers, healthcare practitioners and community-level service providers, to provide sustainable solutions for generations to come.”
“Over the years as a corporate, and through the BUA Foundation, we have been actively involved in corporate philanthropy in various sectors – from health, education, community development, water & sanitation, sports, and even more recently, our work on COVID-19.
The ASR Africa Initiative also announced grants of N1billion each to six Nigerian universities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
“These grants would go toward the initiation and upgrading of infrastructure, where applicable in the benefitting universities, namely the Ahmadu Bello University, the University of Maiduguri, the University of Nigeria, the University of Benin, the University of Ilorin and the University of Ibadan.
He noted that “as the world tries to crawl its way back to business as usual, the Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative’s Africa Fund for Social Development & Renewal aims to be a modest reminder to us all that until our health, education and other development issues are fixed, business as usual in these times, means business as brutal. We pledge to continue to do what we can to support ongoing efforts by various governments to bridge the development divide across Africa.”
