(Ecofin Agency) - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spent $250 million on health, education and improving the lives of the poor in Nigeria in 2016, according to Mairo Mandara, its foundation Country Representative.

Mandara, who disclosed this in an interview in Abuja, said that “five years ago, we spent about $35million; but last year alone, we spent $250 million because the needs were high and we had to spend the money. This year we will see a little increase in what we were doing.We do not say this is the amount of money we will spend in Nigeria, we see the need and then address the need based increasingly on partnership with the government,” she said.

She, however, urged wealthy Nigerians to help improve the lives of others and bridge the poverty gap as other millionaires around the world had started supporting it. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been supporting humanitarian services in Nigeria by donating to the government and other Non-Governmental Organizations(NGOs) for over 10 years and through it, 122 million children's lives had been saved since 1990.

Anita Fatunji