Business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has donated a 2,160 capacity students’ hostel to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
The hostel consists of 10 blocks of fully equipped complex is worth N1.2 billion.
Until this gesture facilitated through the Aliko Dangote Foundation, the university had no additional hostel accommodation in the last 40 years.
The project, which was commissioned by the Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai is located on the ABU Phase II site in Zaria.
The governor congratulated Dangote while commending his gesture.
Speaking at the site, Dangote recalled that when he visited the institution as Guest Speaker of 2016 convocation ceremony, the university authority complained of accommodation constraints.
“When I came here as a Guest Speaker in 2016, the Vice-Chancellor told me that they have needs for accommodation, in fact the last accommodation they had was 37 years ago as at then.
“It is not good for us to leave a university like this without accommodation, really our intention was to accommodate the female students not boys, however, I still plead with the Vice-Chancellor to leave it for the female folk.
“Because of the luxury of this place, it is better to give it to the girls, boys can manage anywhere, may be we need to have discussion to see how we help in terms of transporting them to and fro.
“If you bring the boys here, I will really be in trouble with my daughters, you know I have only three daughters, so they will like to have the ladies here,” he said.
Dangote equally called on wealthy Nigerians to ensure that, “we continue to intervene in most of these universities, government cannot do all these things alone, there are so many other needs.”
Dangote also advocated for an increase of one per cent in corporate tax so that companies can pay additional money mainly for infrastructure in the universities.
EduCeleb.com earlier reported that Dangote along with former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Mr Hassan Sunmonu were awarded honorary doctorate degrees at the 2017/2018 convocation ceremony.
For information on Press Releases, Photos, Promotional Events and Adverts, Please message us on WhatsApp via (+234) 09052129258, 08124662170 or send an email to: info@educeleb.com.
