Africans rising
Nigerian economist Tony Elumelu donates $500,000 to Sierra Leone
Tony Elumelu, chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation donated $500,000 to Sierra Leone following the mudslide disaster. The tragedy has drawn a huge show of support from across the African continent. Countries continue to donate their human and financial resources, and many Africans have taken to social media to bring news of the disaster to the fore when mainstream foreign media under-reported it. This is definitely how Africans should support each other during times of crisis.
Nigerian economist Tony Elumelu donated $500,000 to Sierra Leone following the mudslide disaster that hit the country. Elumelu who’s the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation visited Sierra Leone alongside Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo and Sierra Leone’s President Bai Koroma.
Elumelu narrated how he took a sobering trip down to Sierra Leone and visited survivors of the disaster at the Connaught Hospital. One survivor detailed to Elumelu how she lost her two children and how others lost their livelihood. On his Twitter feed Elumelu described how he was moved by what he witnessed and donated $500,000 towards the rehabilitation and recovery efforts. This is not the first time Elumelu has been involved in charity work in Sierra Leone. During the Ebola outbreak, his two organisations UBA and The Tony Elumelu Foundation were among the first to support Sierra Leone and two other affected countries.
Read: Malawians in North America fundraise for ongoing flood disaster
Tony Elumelu took a sobering trip down to Sierra Leone and visited survivors at the Connaught Hospital alongside Sierra Leone’s President Bai Koroma. Photo: Twitter/TonyOElumelu
Elumelu who leans towards pan-Africanism said, “We will not at this time of dire need, leave our brothers and sisters in Sierra Leone behind.”
The mudslide and flooding disaster in Sierra Leone came at a time when more focus by the western media was paid to the terrorist attacks in Barcelona. The lack of focus on the disaster in Sierra Leone spurred many Africans on Twitter to retweet and share messages on the crisis happening in Sierra Leone. There were messages of displeasure at the imbalance in the manner in which western media covered disasters on the continent as compared to tragedies in Europe and America. Over 1,000 people are reported to have died and 600 missing are missing following the floods and mudslides.
Elumelu himself wasn’t left out of the discussion on unfair reportage or discussions skewed against disasters which happen on the continent. Elumelu said, “All lives whether on the African continent or elsewhere are the same and should attract the same media attention & human sympathy. I also call the attention of the global community to the humanitarian disaster that has happened in Sierra Leone.” He mentioned various western media houses such as CNN, Washington Post and BBC in his tweet.
Interestingly, Elumelu’s charity also begins at home. When a Twitter user said he’d like to know how much Elumelu donated to the victims of Boko Haram, he was shocked to receive a response from the entrepreneur who simply wrote N1 billion ($3M). Elumelu has called for the world to assist Sierra Leone during this crisis.
Read: Diversion of funds and relief materials for IDP’s fuels humanitarian crisis in Nigeria
The disaster in Sierra Leone has seen an overwhelming level of support from fellow Africans, a strong test to the unity and support individual African countries can enjoy from each other. South Africa donated over $600,000 to Sierra Leone, encouraging its citizens to show support to their fellow Africans.