Why Dangote’s N1trn scholarship for 1.2 million Nigerian youths inspired MURIC – Report

*As Islamic human rights Group asks others to emulate him

*DEFENDER’s findings reveal why MURIC pays attention to Dangote’s gesture, referencing Sultan of Sokoto as good representatives of Islam and Muslim Ummah of Nigeria

By KEMI KASUMU and OUR REPORTERS

The Dangote’s gesture, which has become tradition as a Muslim personality and proof against purveyors profiling well-to-do Muslims as sponsors of terrorists in Nigeria without evidence, also comes a month after the Sultan of Sokoto and Leader of Muslims in the world’s most populous black nation His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, HFNIM declared at the November 16, 2025 14th General Assembly of the Muslim Ummah of South Nigeria (MUSWEN) that people should “stop calling our religion what it is not” because, according to him, it will no longer be accepted from them.

As doing well Muslim figures in Nigeria continue to relate with perseverance in the face of attempted profiling of them as terrorists and with good character to fellow citizens – friends and foes, President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has announced N1 trillion worth of a scholarship programme for 1.2 million youths in the country regardless of their ethnic and religious backgrounds.

This comes barely 24 hours after a visiting British scholar and Imam of United Kingdom’s biggest mosque, the East London Mosque, Shaykh Muhammad Mahmoud, said “Muslims are naturally enjoined by Allah in the Qur’an and Sunnah of Holy Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him to do good deeds and relate with fellow human beings with good character without hoping to be acknowledged by them but for the sake of rewards they will get from Allah.” He spoke at a media parley flagging off the “Quest for Peace” Multi-City Da’wah Tour 2025 of the Movement for Islamic Culture and Awareness (MICA), in Lagos on Tuesday December 16.

The Dangote’s gesture, which has become tradition as a Muslim personality and proof against purveyors profiling the Muslims as sponsors of terrorists in Nigeria without evidence, also comes a month after the Sultan of Sokoto and Leader of Muslims in the world’s most populous black nation, His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, HFNIM, declared at the November 16, 2025 14th General Assembly of the Muslim Ummah of South Nigeria (MUSWEN) that people should “stop calling our religion what it is not” because, according to him, it will no longer be accepted from them.

The Sultan was reacting to those who said he and other Muslim leaders in Nigeria had been silent while terrorists – who mischievously call themselves Muslims while not representing the divinely documented dictates and directives of Islam – killed Nigerians especially in Northern Nigeria and which the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) misrepresented to United States President Donald Trump as genocide mission to wipe out all Christians in Nigeria by Muslims in the country.

Sultan Abubakar, who has been wrongly accused by the CAN and its international collaborators of complicity for not taking action against the terrorists whose victims are largely his own fellow Northerners despite knowing that South’s Bola Tinubu and not him is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic, had wondered what else he would say to those mischievous elements that they would believe.

He said this as, according to him, all that needed to be said had been said except that all Nigerians across faiths and tribes should rise up together in unison and call on government leaders to take actions and do what they have been constitutionally charged to do, ensuring security of all Nigerians regardless of faith and tribe, by clearing all parts of the country of all terrorists, bandits and criminals.

It keeps hurting the feelings of many patriotic and peace loving Nigerians home and abroad that, despite the good character of the Sultan, Dangote and countless number of Muslim figures, known and unknown in the country, some Nigerians had to connive with enemies of peace and unity of Nigeria, internationally, to say these Muslims are people of a religion with a pool of violence and whose essence in the country is to wipe out the same Christians that Holy Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him described as “closer to Muslims in faith and so should be supported” against their adversity as it is seen in Islamic History (Seerah) of the era when the Persian and Roman Empires existed as world powers alongside the Islamic World power at the time.

The DEFENDER reports that MURIC’s decision to give serious attention to the funding of education by Alhaji Aliko Dangote through his Dangote Foundation may have been inspired by the urge to prove wrong those with anti-Islam, anti-Muslim and anti-North tendencies in the country, positing that those who have contributed more to the peace, unity and economy of this country are the same Muslims and Northerners they want the world to believe as frontline enemies of the country.

It called on other wealthy Nigerians to emulate Alhaji Aliko Dangote, particularly his compassion for the poor and his generosity as the biggest employer of labour after the Federal Government making life meaningful to Nigerians and other Africans who have been gainfully employed by him through his numerous economic interventions in the country and beyond.

‎‎The appeal was contained in a press release circulated to the media on Wednesday, 17th December, 2025 by the Executive Director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

‎‎MURIC, according to the release, said, ‎‎”Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chairman, Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) and President of Dangote Group, yesterday announced a N1 trillion scholarship programme. The scheme will benefit 1.3 million Nigerian students (https://www.thisdaylive.com/2025/12/12/dangote-launches-n1trn-scholarship-scheme-for-1-3m-nigerian-students/).

‎‎”The gargantuan project will use a merit-based, fully digital system for selection and disbursement. Indubitable credibility has been added to the project by the fact that it will not be handled by Dangote Foundation alone. It was revealed that it would be implemented in partnership with NELFUND, JAMB, NIMC, NUC, NBTE, WAEC, and NECO.

‎‎”This is amazing. We are overwhelmed with a huge sense of gratitude. It is an unprecedented, record-breaking and monumental exercise in charitable deeds that challenges the Guinness World Records. This scheme has proved beyond any doubt that Alhaji Aliko Dangote has the milk and blood of humanity as well as the unmistakable Adamic chromosome flowing in his veins.

‎‎”Nay, the offer has convincingly proved that Dangote is a numero uno patriot, a friend of the masses primus inter pareil and a champion of charity cum education nulli secundus. With this performance, we have no iota of doubt that chroniclers will engrave Dangote’s name in letters of gold on Zuma Rock.

‎‎”By making the scheme touch 1.3 million students in all the 774 local government areas of Nigeria, Dangote has earned a valid certificate of the most detribalised Nigerian ever known in the history of this country.  This scheme is breath-taking, massive.

‎‎”We celebrate Alhaji Aliko Dangote. Based on the popular axiom, ‘To whom much is given, much is expected’, we remind Nigerians that Dangote deserves the love and admiration of Nigerians. These should be extended beyond him to his family, businesses and interests. Most importantly, those who are in the habit of hating the rich should realise by now that not every wealthy person is an enemy of the poor. Aliko Dangote is an exception.

‎‎”MURIC charges Nigerians to key into Dangote’s vision. This vision is encapsulated in Dangote’s words to Nigerian youths. He said, ‘Your dreams matter. Your education matters. Your future matters. We believe in you. We are investing in you. And we are committed to ensuring that you do not walk this journey alone.’

‎‎”To affirm his commitment to the promotion of the ambitions of young people, he also said, ‘No young person should have their future cut short because of financial hardship. We are stepping forward to ensure students stay in school and pursue their ambitions. This initiative is more than financial aid. It is an investment in human capital’. These are words on the marble. They are inspiring.

‎‎”The Dangote scholarship scheme should be emulated by other wealthy Nigerians, particularly his compassion for the poor and his generousity. Besides, through this scheme, our youth must see hope, not desperation. They must see beauty in Nigeria, not ‘jagajaga’. They must see unity, not ‘scatter scatter’.”