Halima, who serves as a trustee of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, disclosed the plan in an interview with Bloomberg published on Tuesday. She said the billionaire had obtained the backing of his family to dedicate 33 percent of his estate to philanthropy.
Based on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Dangote’s fortune is currently estimated at $35.1 billion, which would place the value of the planned charitable allocation at roughly $11.7 billion if his wealth remains at that level.
Halima explained that her father views philanthropy as a core element of the legacy he intends to leave behind and has incorporated it into the family’s long-term inheritance structure.
“He sort of put all the structure in place whereby we focus a lot on health and education. He actually donated 25 per cent to the foundation. If you look at it, it is what we call in Sharia Code in Islam; it means he has donated 33 per cent of his whole inheritance to his foundation,” she said.
“That is how important it is to him because philanthropy needs to be in existence generation after generation.
“So giving back is part and parcel of what we do. We believe we’re here, that our business is successful because of the giving back and because of the philanthropic aspect. That is why the 33 per cent is important.
“And that is why he made an announcement and he asked myself, my two sisters and his mother to sign under that will that he is able to give that 33 per cent to humanity.”
The proposed donation expands on Dangote’s existing charitable activities through the Aliko Dangote Foundation, which was created in 1994.
Halima said the foundation received an endowment of $1.25 billion about 10 years ago and has since been provided with an additional $700 million in funding.
She added that around 70 percent of the foundation’s expenditures are directed toward projects in Nigeria, while 20 percent supports initiatives across the African continent and the remaining share is spent on programmes in other parts of the world.
The foundation focuses on health, education, nutrition and humanitarian assistance. Its work has included collaborations with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and governments in northern Nigeria, efforts that contributed to the eradication of wild poliovirus in Africa.