FORMER Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whose foundation the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has invested more than $9bn in Africa since 2001, will be visiting Nigeria to check on the progress of developmental projects there.
Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is visiting Nigeria to see first-hand the progress the country is making on primary healthcare provision, polio eradication, nutrition and financial inclusion. He will be asking partners to prioritise supporting Nigeria’s poorest people to ensure a sustainable and inclusive economic future, and allow the county to meet its ambitious growth and development agenda.
Gates, whose foundation has invested more than $1.6bn in Nigeria to date, is meeting with government officials, and civil society and private sector stakeholders in Abuja and Lagos. Top of his agenda will be discussions around what can be done to accelerate Nigeria’s progress, and how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation can continue to partner in health, agriculture and financial inclusion to support Nigeria’s goals.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, chairman of the Dangote Foundation, is accompanying Bill Gates on this visit as their two foundations continue to collaborate in Nigeria.
The Gates Foundation works with partners in more than 45 African countries to reduce poverty and improve health. Some of the major areas of investment include agriculture, maternal and child health, nutrition, family planning, and financial services for the poor.
Between 2001 and 2016, the foundation invested more than $9bn in Africa. Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives.
In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.
In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people-especially those with the fewest resources-have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Dr Susan Desmond-Hellmann and co-chair William H. Gates Sr, under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.