By John Ikani
On this episode of ‘Money Miss Road,’ BUA Group – the largest privately owned conglomerate in Nigeria – has donated N10 billion to support Nigerian Government’s fight against insecurity.
The donation made through the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa), – a philanthropic organisation founded by Abdul Samad Rabiu, Chairman of BUA – was announced by Rabiu when he paid a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Friday.
According to him, the N10 billion security initiative “is to be directed towards the provision of some security equipment, medical and other supplies, upgrade of health facilities and other infrastructure for families of those on the frontline.”
Famed for breaking Dangote’s history of business monopoly in the Nigerian economic space, BUA Group led by its founder Rabiu, also have bragging rights about philanthropic interventions.
However, the company’s donation of N10 billion ‘Nigeria Security Support Fund’ does not qualify it to lay claim about fostering a secured Nigeria, especially as it comes at a time the Nigerian government is working hard to prioritise international applause over local victories.
It is barely two weeks since President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration donated N1.14 billion vehicle gift to Niger Republic amidst Nigeria’s deteriorating security situation.
Last week’s donation is not the first time Buhari’s led administration would play a big brother role at the expense of national interests.
At the depths of Nigeria’s recession in 2016, the Nigerian government made a generous donation of 15 cars and 100 motorcycles to the electoral commission of neighbouring Benin.
A year before the second recession in the current political dispensation, the Nigerian Government made a $500,000 donation to Guinea Bissau to support the country’s election process.
In March this year, Nigeria announced the donation of $1 million to Afghanistan to help in its humanitarian efforts.
Other donations to countries come in the form of military assistance in peacekeeping missions which according to Oluwole Oke, a House of Representatives Member, has cost the country $8 billion!
All of these lend credence to the view held by experts that the nation’s security woes are not due to a lack of funds to prosecute the war against criminalities but for failure to address the root causes of insecurity.
For a government which brazenly throws transparency and accountability under the bus even in its fight against insecurity, any monetary donation to the coffers of such government is as good as setting up funds for looting.
With youth unemployment worse than a ticking time bomb, it would have been better if the funds were directly deployed to reduce restiveness in Nigeria’s northwest – where Rabiu hails from – by harnessing the strength of the youthful population in that region through capacity-building initiatives.
It is an incontrovertible fact that training & providing youths with capital is a panacea for sustainable economic growth, and as the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III puts it: “If youths are not using their energy and time in a productive direction, then you can be sure it is going to be in a counterproductive direction.”
For BUA Group, corporate philanthropy should not go close to government’s coffers. The company’s donation of N10 billion ‘Nigeria Security Support Fund’ is an exercise in futility and a waste of resources except Rabiu traded it for political favours or to court some tax exemptions.
If that were to be the case, it is honourable for one to be overt with one’s intentions, as opposed to insulting the intelligence of Nigerians with covert moves.
