Indeed, Nigeria’s billionaire mogul AbdulSamad Rabiu, has always demonstrated that big moves equal big money. This is either in his business dealings as the founder and Chief Executive Officer of BUA Group, a conglomerate with interests in agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, logistics, and port operations, or in his social contracts as a top philanthropist in Nigeria. As a super-rich personality, Rabiu has gone beyond just shelling out money for any cause, rather he’s a man with a heart of gold aiming to see his philanthropic pursuit change the way his people live. At the rate the global COVID-19 pandemic crisis is fast spreading in Nigeria, Rabiu, through his BUA Group, has been playing a very critical role. The Kano-born industrialist has joined top business elite to support their country’s efforts in combating the contagious virus through an earlier contribution of a cash donation of N1 billion to the private sector-led CACOVID coalition. Rabiu took his gesture a step further by placing orders for additional equipment and medical supplies including testing kits and protective gear to nine states across the country —Lagos, Kano, Adamawa, Edo, Kwara, Rivers, Abia, Akwa-Ibom and Sokoto. But despite the magnanimity and concerted collective efforts of Rabiu and over 40 other donors comprising of individuals and corporate bodies to curb the spread and effects of the virus in Nigeria, the increased rate of spread of the disease especially in Kano and Lagos, has become a source of deep concern to the billionaire.
The case of Kano, his homestead with a population of over 20 million, has been so peculiar. It has been in the news lately and not for anything pleasant. Of course, Rabiu’s brother and rival, Dangote, in addition to his also earlier huge financial and materials donations to CACOVID, has put up a state-of-the-art 600-bed isolation and treatment centre in their homestead, but it’s not enough as the state has been recording a swath of mysterious deaths of high profile natives. Many Kano citizens had to call out their other billionaires from the state to rise up to the occasion to save them. Based on this challenge in his homestead, Rabiu responded swiftly and offered an extra lifeline to arrest the situation. He decided in the immediate to commit an additional fresh N3.3 billion grant to a working group made up of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 led by Mr. Boss Mustapha, Nigeria’s Secretary to the Government of the Federation; the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control, NCDC and other stakeholders in equipping two existing permanent facilities both in Kano and Lagos States— being the two epicentres of the virus in Nigeria.
The billionaire provided the breakdown of his fresh two grants as follows —N2 billion for the Kano-based intervention and N1 billion for Lagos State. Rabiu also made available a sum of N300 million immediately in cash to the Presidential Task Force to assist with their logistical and operational activities. And since the announcement of his life-saving effort, not a few have been overwhelmed and responded positively to his good deed they considered a big deal. In total, Rabiu has so far donated a whopping N4.6 billion to the fight against the dreaded pandemic, making him the single highest donor as at date. The latest Forbes ranking placed Rabiu as the 8th richest person in Africa with a net worth of over $3.1 billion. As a silent billionaire with such dedication and sympathy for humanity, Rabiu, unarguably, remains one of the very few Nigerian billionaires who can be seen as a serious contender for Dangote’s numerous accolades —largest cement producer, richest man in Africa and biggest spender on charity.