Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, marked his 55th birthday by donating food items and cash to orphans and distressed patients across Kaduna and Zaria, in an outreach organised through the Uba Sani Foundation.

The governor, who turned 55 on Wednesday, December 31, celebrated the milestone by reaching out to vulnerable groups, including children in orphanage homes and patients receiving treatment in public hospitals. 

According to the organisers, the foundation visited seven orphanages and eight major public health facilities to commemorate the occasion.

During the visits, the Executive Director of the foundation, Ibrahim Dan-Halilu, presented food items worth millions of naira to the orphanages.

The items included “50kg bags of rice, spaghetti, cooking oil, seasoning cubes, pomade, and soap,” as well as sanitary pads and blankets to protect the children from harmattan.

Orphanage homes that benefitted from the gesture included Umm Aytam Orphanage and Women Home in Unguwan Dosa, Al-Ihsan Orphanage in Nassarawa, Adonai Children and Widows Home in Kakuri, and Naphtali Orphanage in Gonin Gora, among others.

The foundation also extended support to patients at health facilities such as Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, Yusuf Dantsoho General Hospital in Tudun Wada, Gwamna Awan General Hospital in Makera-Kakuri, General Hospital Kawo, and Hajiya Gambo Sawaba General Hospital in Kofar Gayan, Zaria.

Cash donations were given to more than 200 patients to help them purchase prescribed drugs and pay for laboratory tests.

Explaining the motivation behind the outreach, Dan-Halilu said “the purpose of the visits to the two special places was to use the occasion of the governor’s birthday to remember the less privileged in our midst and reach out to assist them so that they can enter the New Year in high spirits.”

He also urged other wealthy individuals to support the vulnerable, calling on them “to emulate the kind gesture of the governor who has been assisting the needy long before he became the governor.”

Beneficiaries of the donations expressed gratitude, offering prayers for the governor for long life, good health and continued service to the less privileged.

Founded in 2018, the Uba Sani Foundation focuses on health, education and empowerment. It has awarded scholarships to over 2,000 indigent students, trained more than 5,000 women and youths in vocational skills, and provided medical support to over 10,000 people, including surgical interventions.