President Bola Tinubu on Monday, held a meeting with Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Group, and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
The visit was part of the Gates Foundation’s commitment to working with leaders and partners to support innovation that can help accelerate progress and improve lives across Africa.
TheCable had reported that Gates would be visiting Nigeria and Niger Republic this week.
According to the Gates Foundation, during the visit, the billionaire would meet with national and regional leaders to encourage them to make investments and advance policies that promote innovation and provide equitable opportunity, despite challenging economic conditions.
During the meeting, Tinubu pledged to give priority attention to the health and safety of Nigerians.
While saluting the courage and commitment of Bill Gates to working for humanity, the president commended the partnership with Aliko Dangote Foundation.
Tinubu said his administration would do all that is required to make their work in Nigeria and Africa successful, particularly in the area of eradicating polio, measles, malaria and other diseases from the continent.
He praised Bill Gates’ efforts on climate change and in eradicating polio and malaria from Africa.
He told the philanthropist that the West needed to hear more from him with respect to the plight of the developing countries, saying “you have all it takes to help developing nations more”.
While answering questions from State House correspondents after the meeting, Dangote congratulated President Tinubu on his election and the successful assumption of office.
He said the visit to the Villa was to brief the president on the activities of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Aliko Dangote Foundation.
Dangote expressed the Foundations’ willingness to cooperate further with the government in achieving its goals. He commended Tinubu for the removal of petrol subsidy, expressing confidence that more state funds would be allocated to education, health, infrastructure, and other critical areas of the economy.
While in Nigeria, Gates will also participate in an event tagged “Advancing Africa: Unleashing the Power of Youth in Science and Innovation”, which is billed for Wednesday in Lagos.
The event will facilitate conversations with students and young leaders to gather insights and share perspectives on how science and innovation can accelerate positive change and contribute to a brighter outlook for Africa.