MILLIONAIRE entrepreneur Tony Elumelu has donated six trailer loads of essential food items to several towns and cities across the Delta North Senatorial District as part of his contribution to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Like most others parts of Nigeria, Delta State is currently in a lockdown, creating hardship for its citizens who are finding it hard to get hold of essential food supplies. This has created the potential of social unrest, forcing governments and philanthropists to step up the delivery of basic necessities to the needy who are unhappy about the fact that the lockdown prevents them from earning a living.
Mr Elumelu, who founded the charity the Tony Elumelu Foundation, has already personally donated N1bn to the private sector led coalition against coronavirus in Nigeria. He has also facilitated the donation of N5bn through the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Foundation to combat the pandemic in Nigeria and 19 African countries where the bank operates.
One of Nigeria’s wealthiest men with a net worth of $900m, Mr Elumelu is the chairman of Heirs Holdings, UBA and Transcorp. Stepping up his philanthropy, Mr Elumelu has decided to assist the residents of Delta North because his father is from Onicha-Uku and his mother is from Onicha-Ugbo, both in the area.
Apart from Onicha Ugbo and Onicha-Uku, other towns in the area who benefitted from the largesse include the four local government areas in Aniocha-Oshimili. These four local government areas Aniocha North, Aniocha South, Oshimili North and Oshimili South, each got one trailer load.
Mr Elemelu’s mother’s town, Onicha-Ugbo got one trailer load, his father’s place, Onicha-Uku got one and the rest went to the other local government areas. Residents of the communities rained prayers on their son for remembering them during this trying period.
Chief Ken Iwelumo, a cabinet member of the Onicha Ugbo palace, said: “Last night, April 26, 2020, Onicha Ugbo received a shipment of 600 bags of high quality rice from Mr Tony Elumelu, the Group Chairman of UBA Group and Heirs Holdings. This is a gift to his motherland.
“Words cannot express our gratitude to him during these difficult and uncertain times. We pray that our good lord will continue to shower eternal blessings on him, his family and Elumelu clan.”
Mr Elumelu’s brother, Rt Hon Ndudi Elumelu who is the minority leader in Nigeria’s House of Representative, where he represents Aniocha-Oshimili Federal Constituency. Apart from this gesture, Mr Elumelu has also helped a lot of local people involved in business start-ups through his Tony Elumelu Foundation.
