Bill Gates bags Nigeria’s National Honour

*President Bola Ahmed Tinubu confers Nigeria’s National Honour of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) on Bill Gates, American multibillionaire businessman, Founder of Bill Gates Foundation and Co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, during the latter’s visit to the Nigerian leader in Lagos

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Bill Gates, American multibillionaire businessman, Founder of Bill Gates Foundation and Co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, has been conferred with Nigeria’s National Honour of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR).

ConsumerConnect reports President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Tuesday, June 3, 2025, conferred the West African country’s National Honour on Gates during the latter’s visit to the President’s private residence, in Ikoyi, Lagos State.

L-R: Gates, President Tinubu and Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President/Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited

The brief event held when President Tinubu received Gates in audience in company with Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President/Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Africa’s richest man and Nigerian billionaire business mogul.

The President thereafter decorated Gates with the national award as well as presenting him with the Award Certificate, in Lagos.

On Bill Gates’ humanitarian activities in Nigeria

Operating from its Regional Office, in Abuja, FCT, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in the overview of its operations in the country as noted in its Web site, says the office wants “all of Nigeria’s children, mothers, and families to be able to lead healthy and productive lives, and we want the country’s most marginalised people to have opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty.”

It also stated: “To work toward these goals, we partner with the government, the private sector, and civil society organisations.

“We aim to reduce preventable deaths in Nigeria by focusing on maternal and child health. We invest in programs that provide prenatal through postnatal care, as well as childhood immunisation programs.

“We also support efforts to address common health challenges such as pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, and malnutrition, and we work to improve access to clean water and proper sanitation and hygiene.”

Others are that the Foundation seeks “ways to bolster primary health care delivery and integrate services to ensure a strong overall health system.

“To help smallholder farmers boost their productivity, we invest in efforts to introduce higher-yield strains of important crops such as yams, cassava, sorghum, cowpeas, and rice; increase the productivity of livestock; and improve the tools and systems that are available to farmers.

“We also support research and policies that help improve the lives of smallholder farmers over the long term.

“We support the government’s goal of ensuring that women, smallholder farmers, and other marginalised populations have access to digital financial services, which can help them save, spend, and plan for the future more effectively.

According to the Foundation, there are several grant commitments related to Nigeria made by the Gates Foundation, and previous foundations of the Gates family (William H. Gates Foundation, Gates Library Foundation, and Gates Learning Foundation) from 1994 onward.