Billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote, says besides being Africa’s richest man, he also wants to be known as the biggest philanthropist on the continent.

This, he explained, was the motivation for the Aliko Dangote Foundation, on which platform a total of N2.5bn had been disbursed to 256,500 women across Kano, Lagos, Jigawa, Kogi, Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

According to a statement on Sunday, Dangote said this at the weekend during the inauguration of the foundation’s “one-off and unconditional micro-grants” programme in Niger State.

The scheme, according to the statement, targets 25,000 disadvantaged and vulnerable women in Niger State, who will each be given N10,000 cash “to boost their household income generation.”

Dangote, at the programme, which held at the Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi International Conference Centre, Minna, said his foundation had earmarked N10bn for the empowerment of vulnerable women in the 774 local government areas of the country.

“I do not only want to be known as Africa’s richest man, but the biggest philanthropist.

“I will continue to use my resources and my voice to help shape a better Nigeria, and Africa as a whole,” the businessman said.

The Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, while lauding Dangote for his generosity, urged the beneficiaries of the N10,000 cash “to use it to start small businesses so the foundation would be pleased to do more.”

The governor urged other well-meaning Nigerians to emulate Dangote’s good gesture to make positive impact on the society.

The Executive Director, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Hajiya Halima Aliko-Dangote, said the foundation was poised to help lift the status of women in the country.

“If you empower a woman, you empower the whole nation,” she said.

The Managing Director of the foundation, Zouera Yussouffou, said the micro-grant scheme was one of the foundation’s four focuses, with others being health and nutrition; education; economic empowerment and disaster relief.