By Abbas Yahaya
Greek playwright Aeschylus coined the term philanthropy in the 5th century BCE. It meant “love of humanity.” Today, philanthropy means generosity in all its forms and is often defined as giving gifts of “time, talent and treasure” to help make life better for other people.
In the past couple of years, the name Alh. Suleiman Baba has consistently been reverberating on the lips of people in Lokoja. The name which has held the media space by the jugular has been the one behind several groundbreaking events in Lokoja.
Dama of Lokoja is certainly a Philanthropist in Lokoja Garin Bature. He practice philanthropy by making a monetary gift, such as a donation to a cause he believes is targeted toward the upliftment of the life of vulnerable women and youth of his dear community such that they become economically independent thereby contributing their quota in the economic development of Lokoja in particular.
You need not reach ‘Nnayi Suleiman’ road at the top hill of the GRA to know that God has richly blessed Alh. Suleiman Baba in terms of naira and kobo; Dama of Lokoja has shown that he is miles apart from his multi-millionnaire peers who would rather have their luxuries Houses built in other city.
But for Dama of Lokoja who is passionate about community development, any wealth accumulated without a relative commensurate to human development is useless. Suleiman Baba as much as he works hard to earn his fortunes also take delight in spending it as much as it will be for the benefit of all and sundry especially the downtrodden.
That Alh. Suleiman Baba is humble (despite his wealth) and loves giving is not a news anymore. What people may not know yet is the depth of the rich mind of the Dama family.
Dama of Lokoja, through his rich mind has been able to reform some youths who were once seen as irredeemable. Some of them he has gone ahead to offer them employment opportunities and having seen that rascality and criminality give nothing but untimely demise of dreams have been living their lives in conformity with societal values and ideals.
One thing you can’t take away from the Dama of Lokoja is his unrivaled strategic planning unmatched projections. Alh. Suleiman Baba is not only rich in terms of naira and kobo but also rich in mind. Suleiman Baba according to commentators is the only investor I know that furnishes his employees business ideas, the very functions he hired them to do. Backed by a loving and prayerful wife, who holds forth the home front and a philantropist and an enterprising mother. Nature had desitined Alh. Suleiman Baba for greatness which is the reason he is blessed with the two most important women in any man’s life.
He also practice philanthropy by giving out his time—serving in a more uncommon kitchen soup like, uncommon mentoring of youths or engaging in any other volunteer activity that aims to improve standards of lives of his people, this been widely seen the activities of foundation founded for the past 10 years, I.e the Danko Development Forum. So the answer to “what is a philanthropist in Dama” is that he is a person who exhibits these behaviours, regardless of how many resources he has. It will be again saying Dama is philanthropist a person who donates time, money, experience, skills and talent to help uplift a better Lokoja.
For those who care to know, it is not by sheer coincidence that Alh. Suleiman is a birthday mate of my brother, Isa Abbas it is because greatness begets greatness and that like Isah, Alh. Suleiman Baba is a child of destiny whose journey so far had been predestined by the nature for the transformation of fortunes of his people.
Abbas Yahaya wrote from Lokoja
