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The Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative (ASRi) has provided its inaugural donation to help improve health and social development in Africa through a N5 billion ($12.23 million) gift to Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom State. The ASRi was founded by Nigerian billionaire Abdul Samad Rabiu earlier this year to pursue socioeconomic philanthropy on the continent.
The donation was presented to Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel by Kabiru Rabiu, a C-suite executive who doubles as the chairman of ASRi and Abdul Samad Rabiu’s mainstay corporation, BUA Group.
ASRi approved the immediate disbursement of N2.5 billion to a jointly managed fund guaranteeing the program’s commencement, The Cable reported Kabiru Rabiu as saying.
Akwa Ibom is the first regional government to benefit from ASRi.
According to the governor, the grant will fund projects that are jointly approved and implemented in line with the ASRi according to its grants utilization framework.
ASRi Managing Director Uboh Udoh noted that the ASRi’s purpose is to give back to society. “The initiative’s core areas of intervention are education, health and social development in Africa and our main focus is on equipping facilities, researchers, healthcare practitioners and community-level service providers and also supporting the efforts of various governments in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.
In March, Abdul Samad Rabiu launched the ASRi as a $100-million fund endowment for projects across the African continent.
ASRi aims to support Nigerians and Africans in infrastructure and capacity development, as well as various governments nationally and continentally. Its goal is to dispense $50 million to Nigeria and $50 million to the rest of Africa.
So far, it has granted a total of N 3 billion to two higher educational institutions in Nigeria — Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and University of Ibadan in Oyo State.
ASRi stated last month that it will donate funds to another four higher educational institutions in Nigeria’s remaining four geopolitical zones — University of Nigeria (Nsukka), University of Maiduguri, University of Ilorin and University of Benin.
