The Aliko Dangote Foundation on Monday doled out food items running into several millions of naira to support victims of insurgency in Zamfara State.
The farmers-herders clash and sporadic attacks by cattle rustlers have displaced thousands of people, many of whom are currently seeking refuge at Maradun Local Government Area of the State.
According to official reports over 3,000 people have been killed, about 100,000 displaced, of which about 30,000 are in Maradun LG, and over 500 people kidnapped.
A release from Apo Group quoted the Group Executive Director Government Relations and Strategic Relations, Dangote Foundation, Mansur Ahmed who presented the food items on behalf of the Group President Aliko Dangote, as saying the Foundation was supporting the government and traditional leaders in meeting the needs of the IDPs.
Ahmed said Dangote was very disturbed about the plight of the displaced persons and quickly directed that everything possible be done to provide succour.
He disclosed that the company was building a 2000 ton capacity of rice mill in Maradun, which when completed this year, would create hundreds of job opportunities for the people of Zamfara State.
Responding, the Emir of Maradun Muhammad Garba Tambari said he was highly elated as the company is the first to intervene by providing food support for displaced persons.
He commended Dangote for the gesture and promise to help secure his investment in his Emirate.
Chairman of the Maradun Local Government Yahayah Shehu Maradun thanked the Dangote Foundation for the gesture and prayed God to continue to bless the Dangote business.
Some of the items delivered include: Trucks of Semolina, sphagetti, sugar, wheat meal and Macaroni.
Victims at the IDP camp who recounted their ordeal described the crisis as the worst in the country in the past five years.
They regretted that the state has been neglected by government and mainstream media.
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Mrs Inno Usman, 50, from Mallamai District lost a husband to the crisis and has eight children at the IDP camp. She said five men including her husband were killed by the marauders.
She described the intervention of Dangote as timely, while urging other donours to emulate the Aliko Dangote Foundation.
Another victim, Mrs Kenan Usman said her husband was also killed in a gruesome manner and that she escaped with her five children by the whiskers.
She said before the coming of Dangote Foundation they have been accommodated at the IDP camp in Maradun since November 2018, regretting that no date has been fixed for their return as the insurgents still hold sway in their various villages.
Inno Aliyu Sani, 60, another victim said 21 people were killed including four women, and cows running into hundreds were stolen by the rustlers.
“We can’t go back. The killers are still there,” she said.
Abubakar Garba from Rudun village said for the past five years marauders had sacked everyone in the village but that government was not doing anything address the situation until now.
