…VP Shettima seeks more investment in education to reverse West Africa’s low human capital index
THUR DEC 11 2025-theGBJournal| The President of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, today, unveiled a N100 billion annual education support programme aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s educational sector and expanding access to quality learning for young people nationwide.
The programme, projected to cost N1 trillion over the next ten years, will support students across multiple levels through a range of targeted schemes.
Speaking at the launch of the scheme, the President of the Foundation, Alhaji Dangote, said the Foundation’s N100 billion annual education support programme will strengthen Nigeria’s educational sector and expand access to quality learning for young people nationwide, assuring that all beneficiaries will be selected through a transparent, merit-based process.
He further announced partnerships with NELFUND, NECO, WAEC, and other government agencies to ensure accountability and fairness in programme delivery, revealing that he has dedicated 25 percent of his personal wealth to the foundation, a commitment that will extend beyond his lifetime.
The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, flagged off the Aliko Dangote Foundation Education Scholarship Initiative, with a call for stakeholders to recommit to building a future where every Nigerian child can become the best version of themselves.
The Vice President also extolled Dangote’s philanthropic stride, saying education is a burden carried by those with the knowledge of its power to transform.
“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 implored the private sector and corporate entities to invest in education, insisting that they must consider themselves as stakeholders in the survival of Nigeria’s education system.
Noting that there was no better time than now to confront the “consequences of demographic acceleration,” VP Shettima 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.”
The VP described the Founder and President/CEO of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Dangote, as stand-apart, saying “in a nation that has produced giants, he remains a colossus.
Applauding the 100 billion annual education support scheme, he said, “His (Dangote’s) 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,” he said.
Also, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, described the initiative as one of the most comprehensive human capital development programmes in Nigeria’s history, which aligns with the Federal Government’s education reform agenda.
Dr. Alausa also noted that 25 percent of the scholarship slots will be reserved for persons living with disabilities, calling the gesture a “humane and inclusive approach.”
In her goodwill message, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, commended the foundation’s investment in education, saying the expanded scholarship opportunities—particularly in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)—would create new pathways for Nigerian children.
She 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 the future of Nigerian youth.
He acknowledged that the Dangote Foundation has redefined philanthropy in Nigeria, just as he said state governments will work to ensure the success of the initiative, beginning with Lagos State, which has allocated 10 percent of its annual budget to education.
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