When sometimes in December last year, Abdul Samad Rabiu, the Founder and Chairman of BUA Group rolled out the drums to honour some of his staff by making some of them billionaires, the whole internet was awash with questions about his sincerity and purpose even as thousands praised him for investing in his own staff.
The reason for this was because many could not phantom how a man could dole out so much to lift up fellow men, especially his own workers. At the end of that remarkable night, Abdul Samad Rabiu ended up giving out 30Billion Naira to his workers with five of them walking away with 1billion Naira each, three receiving 500million Naira each and seven receiving 250million Naira each. Others were given lesser amount also running into millions.
But then, a cursory look at his record will reveal that the BUA Chairman has always been at the vanguard of offensive and perhaps more aptly, impactful giving. He simply gives with all sincerity that commands the receiver to know this was not tokenism. It is to his credit that his NGO, ASR-Africa has touched more lives than any other humanitarian organization in Nigeria. ASR-Africa, at any point in time has projects going on in not less than fifteen Nigerian States cutting across North, South, East or West. Their intervention programmes are felt in hospitals, Universities and other educational institutions. They also work closely with the military and paramilitary institutions in Nigeria to ensure that their officers and men are well taken care of and have some of the best facilities money can offer.
No other organization has touched the lives of more people than ASR-Africa in terms of direct and impactful interventions.
Again, it is on record that BUA Group owned by him is the largest employer of labour in the Northwestern part of the country.
BUA, under Abdul Samad Rabiu has been at the vanguard of a Nigeria where the country’s resources are harnessed to the benefit of the people. They have quietly engineered environment-friendly policies and programmes even as they pursue expansion in their various factories especially the cement sector.
Abdul Samad Rabiu’s giving is not limited to Nigeria alone. He has been at the forefront, helping other African countries like Niger, Ghana , Zambia, Senegal. no wonder he’s popularly known as Africa’s biggest giver.
It is not too common to be really wealthy and be a big time philanthropist. Indeed, it takes uncommon humanism and love for humanity to continue to give without looking back, even when the economy looks gloomy.
Born in Kano, 4th August 1960, Abdul Samad Rabiu was indeed born into a family of businessmen. His father , the Khalifah, Isyaku Rabiu was one of the country’s foremost industrialist in the 1970s and 1908s.
The younger Rabiu however carved a niche for himself and launched the BUA Group which today has become one of the biggest business octopuses in the continent and the world with interest spanning Cement, Foods, Oil, Shipping and properties.
One thing that however stands him out of all the other billionaires around has been his consistency in championing the idea that Africa has to stand up and be counted as a production hub, rather than consumer hub. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the BUA Chairman has been telling the continent’s leaders that the best thing to happen to the various countries in the continent is for them to harness their resources and produce rather than exporting raw materials which put them at a disadvantage in world economy.
As Abdul Samad Rabiu adds another year today, we wish him all that he wishes himself, but more importantly good health, impactful life and continued service to mankind
Bamidele Ogundana
