Again, Dangote wipes tears off crisis victims

Posted by admin Headlines Thursday, October 6th, 2011

The 2011 general elections may have come and gone. Some may have forgotten the elections, ut those in the North, particularly those who are witnesses to the post-election violence in some parts of the region, would not want to forget easily. For the displaced victims of the violence, agonies of the senseless crisis will apparently remain in their memory for a lifetime.

In Kaduna State, the violence which claimed more lives in Zaria, Zonkwa and Kafanchan, left many families displaced and properties worth hundreds of millions of naira destroyed. This is just as the displaced victims camped at the Hajj Camp in Kaduna and other places were finding it hard to cope with their new environment.

Although, assistance came from government and other non-governmental organizations, none could be equated to the generous donations by the Dangote Group. President of the group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, stormed the state under the auspices of Dangote Foundation to rescue the victims of the unfortunate violence. The victims from various camps were gathered at the Kaduna International Trade Fair ground on Monday, September 26, to receive money and other relief materials.

Each family, numbering 3,000, was given N100, 000 alongside other consumables and household materials. The foundation also donated a Toyota Hiace Ambulance to the Nigerian Red Cross (NRC), which had always being at the service of the victims.
Dangote said he was moved by the agonies and pains of the victims: “We share in the agonies and pains of those who lost their loved ones and those who lost their property and have been displaced. We at the Dangote Group are deeply touched by this development. This is why we decided to assist the government in the resettlement efforts aimed at alleviating the psychological trauma and pains suffered by the displaced victims who have been taking refuge in various camps.”

He noted that the foundation’s gesture was to help re-integrate the displaced persons into the larger society, just as the items and cash donations were not intended to compensate the victims but aimed at complementing government’s efforts to ameliorate the pains of the victims and help them resettle. He urged residents of the state to live together in peace and harmony and prayed to God not to allow the nation witness such crisis again.

He then unfolded his plan for the state: “Kaduna would be having power plant by the end of this year or early next year and after that, we will bring one of our industries here. Wealthy Nigerians should come out to help. Government cannot do it alone. Government cannot create jobs but only create the enabling environment. Nigerians should invest in agriculture. By 2030, our population will be about 280 million, with the population of other West African countries about 140 million. How do we feed our people if we are finding it difficult to feed ourselves now that we are only 150 million?”

Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa expressed joy that the victims and the people of the state have resolved to leave the past behind them and be united: “I stand before you today with mixed feelings. Happy that the past is finally behind us, but sad that a need for this occasion shouldn’t even have arisen in the first place. My consolation and gratitude is that, unfortunately and most unnecessary as the post-presidential election crisis was, we now have a reason to be hopeful and optimistic that the healing processes within us will continue. “At every opportune forum, I have taken time to condemn the reason that has made some of you to temporarily leave your places of residence. It is most unnecessary, most uncalled for and out of tune with modern realities. Violence in any form has never been known to genuinely redress any issue, whether real or imagined.

“Saddened by the eruption of violence and determined to bring succour to those affected, we visited all the affected areas, after which we set up the Kaduna State Committee on Internally Displaced Persons. That committee was able to bring immediate and temporary relief to all those affected. But to get to the root of the violence, we decided to set up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry. I want to tell you that the commission had already submitted its findings and recommendations. We have even started implementing some of the recommendations contained in their report.

“But more than that, we are determined to entrench peace, security and continued translation of our electoral promises into realities by waging relentless war against poverty, ignorance, illiteracy and provision of infrastructures. Only by doing these, will we narrow the opportunities that selfish people utilize in creating division amongst us and then sowing the seed of hatred that usually metamorphoses into unfortunate breakdown of societal law and order, culminating into this temporary relocation that has befallen some of us here.
“I want to thank Dangote for his philanthropic gesture.

May the good Lord reward you abundantly. I also want to thank all our religious leaders, royal fathers, all security agencies and all the good people of the state who did all that is possible at ensuring a sustained peaceful atmosphere within Kaduna. May all your efforts never be in vain and may God reward us all.”

-Sunwp_posts