Aminu Dantata, billionaire businessman and philathropist, dies at 94

The death last Friday of Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata at the age of 94 marked the passing of one of Nigeria’s foremost and illustrious statesmen. A businessman, respected philanthropist and community leader, he passed away in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, but was buried in Madinah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, in accordance with his wishes. “We lost a prominent business mogul, patriot, and elder statesman who contributed significantly to the growth and development of our nation,” President Bola Tinubu said in his tribute. “Alhaji Dantata will be remembered for his industry, diligence, steadfastness, and great commitment to national unity through his many business ventures and philanthropic activities that touched countless lives of Nigerians.”

We agree with the president on the remarkable life of Aminu Dantata who was for three decades the patriarch of a family that has become synonymous with entrepreneurship since the pre-colonial era. More remarkable is that from being Northern Nigeria’s most prominent businessman, Aminu Dantata transformed into a foremost philanthropist – a rich legacy that he will be remembered for. In the past two decades, he spent billions of naira on schools, hospitals, orphanages, widows, physically challenged persons, mosques and disaster relief.

Born on 19 May 1931, Aminu was one of the 17 children of Alhaji Alhassan Dantata, founder of the family business dynasty. He acquired early Islamic education before attending Dala Primary School, Kano from 1938 to 1945. He then continued his studies at home in a private school that his father built in 1949. Thereafter, he went to work at the family firm, Alhassan Dantata & Sons where he took on the role of buying agricultural products. In the process, he played a significant role in the popularity of the groundnut pyramids in Kano.

 When their father died in 1955, the then young Aminu and elder brother, Ahmadu took over the family business. Upon the counsel of some British colonial officials in the 1940s, the Dantatas began modernising the business, and their children have continued the trend by venturing into transport, property, construction, manufacturing, petroleum, agriculture and banking. In the ensuing decades, they consolidated their name as the pre-eminent face of business in Northern Nigeria. During the post-civil war indigenisation programme of the General Yakubu Gowon administration in the early 1970s, the Dantata Group acquired major shares in previously foreign-owned firms such as Mentholatum, SCOA, Funtua Cotton Seed Crushing Company and Raleigh Industries. They also went into banking and the oil and gas sector.

A member of the Nigerian business mission that toured the world in 1961, Aminu Dantata was also a pioneer member of the board of Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB), now Bank of Industry (BoI) in 1964. Beyond the business environment, Dantata played critical political and public service roles. Elected to the Northern House of Assembly in 1961, he was appointed Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade and Industry in Kano State in 1968. He was a member of Police Commissioner Audu Bako’s cabinet until 1973. In 1978, he was also a member of the Constituent Assembly that ratified the 1979 Constitution for the Second Republic.

However, as many have attested after his passage, the focus of Dantata’s latter life was devoted to how he could be of immediate service to the less fortunate of our society. This is the kind of selfless leadership that the nation requires today. We need philanthropists like Dantata who are not transactional in their giving or driven by self-promotion. Genuine givers are driven by altruism and the impact they could make in the lives of others.  Aminu Dantata supported worthy causes to make our society a better place for all.

 May his soul rest in peace.