Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria has become the first sub-national government to benefit from the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) in the healthcare sector.
Incidentally, the state health-care and social development has gotten a N5 billion grant, courtesy of the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa).
This forms part of ASR Africa annual $100 million dollars Annual Africa Fund for Social Development and Renewal.
Kabiru Rabiu, who represented the Chairman of ASR Africa and BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, announced this when he presented the grant award letter by ASR Africa to Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel in Uyo, Thursday.
Rabiu commended Governor Udom for upgrading the state health-care infrastructure and referral system at the Primary and Secondary levels, and for the state handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, BUA Foundation donated five ambulances and 50,000 reusable facemasks which were later distributed to students and vulnerable groups across the state.
He stated that the project initiation process and development of mutual accountability frameworks to guide the grant usage will commence immediately, adding that ASR Africa has approved the immediate and initial disbursement of N2.5 billion from the total sum to a jointly managed fund guaranteeing the commencement of the programme.
Governor Udom praised the Founder of the Initiative, Abdul Samad Rabiu for his consistent commitment to social good and philanthropy.
He added that the projects to be funded by the grant will be jointly approved and implemented in line with the ASR Africa Grants Utilisation Framework.
Furthermore, Governor Udom assured that the state will continue to boost social development and to improve the healthcare infrastructure for its citizens considering the great strides have already been made.
While reiterating the purpose of ASR Africa, Ubon Udoh, Managing Director of ASR Africa said, “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.
“The purpose of this initiative is to give back to the society. ASR Africa has set aside100 million dollars annually for social development, health and education intervention in Nigeria and Africa through the ASR Africa Fund for Social Development and Renewal. Of this amount, 50 million dollars is being committed to Nigeria and another $50 million for the rest of Africa.
Prior to now, the initiative had donated N1billion each to the University of Ibadan, Oyo State and the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State under our education intervention programme.
