Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, has officially launched the Aliko Dangote Foundation Education Scholarship Initiative, calling on stakeholders to recommit to building a future where every Nigerian child can become the best version of themselves.
The programme, projected to cost ₦1 trillion over the next ten years, will support students across multiple levels through a range of targeted schemes.
Speaking on Thursday in Lagos during the launch, VP Shettima extolled Dangote’s philanthropic efforts, describing education as a burden carried by those who understand its transformative power.
“Now is the time to recommit to building a future in which every Nigerian child has a fair shot at becoming the best version of themselves.
Let us live our lives so that posterity will remember us not for the offices we held or the titles we bore. Posterity must remember us for the doors we opened and the lives we transformed,” he stated.
VP Shettima urged the private sector and corporate entities to invest in education, insisting that they must regard themselves as stakeholders in the survival of Nigeria’s education system.
Highlighting the urgency of addressing the “consequences of demographic acceleration,” he said, “A youthful population is a global asset only when it is educated. Without education, it becomes a threat to itself and to the nation that houses it. We come from a difficult history. Formal education was once treated as an intrusion. It was seen as an affliction. It was seen as a scheme to estrange children from their heritage. The residue of that suspicion, the gap that misunderstanding created, still weighs heavily upon our national progress.”
He emphasised that, rather than relying on rhetoric, deliberate efforts must be made “to end a needless cycle of failure that has persisted for far too long.”
VP Shettima said these considerations inspired President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to introduce bold reforms, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to ensure equitable access to education.
“We strengthened UBEC to deepen basic education infrastructure and accountability. We expanded TETFUND’s intervention footprint to revitalise tertiary institutions. We accelerated our Technical and Vocational Education and Training programmes to reflect the needs of a new economy. We also mainstreamed digital learning as a core national priority,” he added.
He also decried the “reality of West Africa as the region that now carries the burden of having the lowest Human Capital Index in the world,” stressing that Nigeria must invest in education to reverse the trend.
“We must treat education as a survival strategy. This is why our administration treats the National Human Capital Development Programme as a national emergency. We are bringing states, development partners, the private sector, and civil society together to reclaim our destiny,” he said.
VP Shettima praised Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Founder and CEO of the Dangote Group, describing him as “in a nation that has produced giants, he remains a colossus.”
Applauding the ₦100 billion annual education support scheme introduced by Dangote, he said, “His philanthropy is not episodic. His philanthropy is structural. His philanthropy is generational. His philanthropy is visionary. He is not only the largest private employer of labour in Nigeria. He has also become the most consequential private investor in the rescue of our most critical sector, education.”
Alhaji Dangote said the Foundation’s ₦100 billion annual programme will strengthen Nigeria’s education sector and expand access to quality learning nationwide. He assured that beneficiaries will be selected through a transparent, merit-based process and revealed that he has dedicated 25 per cent of his personal wealth to the foundation, a commitment extending beyond his lifetime.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, described the initiative as one of the most comprehensive human capital development programmes in Nigeria’s history, aligning with the Federal Government’s education reform agenda. He noted that 25 per cent of the scholarship slots will be reserved for persons living with disabilities, calling it a “humane and inclusive approach.”
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, in her goodwill message, commended the foundation’s investment in education. She noted that the expanded scholarship opportunities, particularly in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), would create new pathways for Nigerian children and described investment in girls’ education as “one of the most powerful tools for societal progress.”
Speaking on behalf of state governors, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu applauded Dangote’s commitment to Nigerian youth and pledged state government support, beginning with Lagos, which has allocated 10 per cent of its annual budget to education.
The high point of the event was the unveiling of the Vision 2030 ₦100 billion logo of the Dangote Foundation.
