Premium News
AMINU DANTATA: LIFE AND LEGACY
With the benefit of hindsight, it could be said that prominent business man and philanthropist, Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata, looked forward to transiting the earthly realm.
The business mogul, who breathed his last yesterday, at 94 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, had in December 2022, stirred emotions when he remarked that he was no longer enjoying life.
“I have travelled to all the states in Nigeria and I have done things with people across all states, many were friends but sadly, of all the people I know, I hardly can call out 10 that are still alive.
“Honestly, as I am right now, I am just waiting for my time. I no longer enjoy life anymore. I hope I depart this world in good faith,” he has said.
Coming from a man who could literally be said to have seen it all, the comment came as a sombre message that resonated with many in an age where wealth has become the yardstick for measuring success and fulfillment in life.
Aminu Dantata, as far back as 1967, when the population of Nigerians that owned cars could literally be counted on the fingertip, was rich enough to afford an aircraft.
He bought his first plane that year and by the following year in 1968 sold it and acquired a jet for about $2.5 million (about N4 billion).
Unlike many whose wealth diminished with time, the late business mogul was not only able to consolidate on his financial attainment through vast businesses but advanced and by 2009, was able to buy another jet for $38 million!
ALH. AMINU ALHASSAN DANTATA
The story of Aminu Dantata is however not just about wealth, it is a story in resilience, doggedness and philanthropy.
It bears semblance with that of the American multi billionaire, John D. Rockefeller, who though had a foundation in business laid by his father, consolidated and made huge successes in business and later devoted it to philanthropy.
Aminu Dantata’s father, Alhaji Alhassan Dantata, like John D. Rockefeller Sr who founded Standard Oil and became America’s first billionaire, laid the foundation for the Dantata family’s vast wealth.
The senior Dantata stunned the world when, in 1929, he deposited 20-camel-loads of silver coins in the newly opened Kano branch of Bank of West Africa.
ad
Some of his sons, including Aminu, keyed into the business, and the latter expanded it to a wide range of sectors including construction, manufacturing, banking, agriculture, and oil and gas, proving over time that with doggedness and commitment, the private sector could drive economic growth in Nigeria.
As evidence of his investments, Aminu Dantata said he had lost count of the number of properties he owned across the world including in countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, United Kingdom and Germany, as well as in many states in Nigeria. He, at a time, took 50 members of his family on pilgrimage to Makkah.
His resilience and doggedness showed when at a period he had to be using camels, donkeys and bicycles to distribute and sell his wares. This, as he explained, was because the trucks that should convey the goods were unreliable as they take days to reach their destinations.
“There were certain areas you would reach and you would have to evacuate the goods and put on the donkeys. That is why we are used to walking or riding donkeys, camels or bicycles, whatever was possible,” he explained in an interview with Trust TV.
He was buying stuffs like kola nuts, livestock, groundnuts and merchandise, and was buying goods from restricted rural areas and transporting them to the cities and storing them in warehouses.
Aminu Dantata went into politics briefly and won elections into the House of Representatives as far back as the early 60s on the platform of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC).
He served as Commissioner for Planning and Development under the Audu Bako administration in Kano State between 1967 and 1972, and had offered counsels to many administrations in Nigeria.
In the area of philanthropy, he was outstanding. He has done many humanitarian works through his foundation and because he prefers to reach out quietly to people many of his interventions are not publicised.
But he is known to have built schools, mosques and funded health centres, orphanages, and provided support for widows and the underprivileged across Nigeria.
The late elder statesman said he believes in helping people because “the more you give others to enjoy, the more you enjoy.”
It is also due to his humility that he has in his life time avoided publicity and anything that will make him appear proud.
One of his cousins and close confidants, Dr. Munzali Dantata, explained that the late Aminu Dantata deliberately refrained from taking traditional titles.
This was one of the qualities Aminu Dantata explained, that he inherited from his father who shunned the glamour of traditional titles.
ad
In business, he was a contemporary of the likes of Alhaji Mai Deribe, Alhaji Ali Kotoko, Khalifah Isyaku Rabiu, Alhaji Sani Usman Marshall, Alhaji Muhammadu Adamu Dankabo, who at a time enlivened the private sector participation in the economy of Nigeria. He was fortunate to outlive most of his peers till he breathed his last at a hospital in Dubai early hours of yesterday.
His was a life in legacy, making a success of almost everything he laid his hands on: business, politics, administration, family life.
Not surprisingly, in many of the condolence messages to his family, he has been described as a man of many parts.
President Bola Tinubu described his death as a monumental national loss because of his sterling contributions to Nigeria’s economic growth and development.
He said: “With the death of Alhaji Dantata today, we lost a prominent business mogul, patriot, and elder statesman who contributed significantly to the growth and development of our nation”.
The elder statesman died at the age of 94 leaving legacies for generations to come.
