Dickens Sanomi Foundation, An Abuja-based charity, has offered to pay the medical bill of Ali Ahmadu, a six year-old boy from Chibok, Borno State, who suffered damage to his spinal cord during a Boko Haram attack in 2014.

Boko Haram militants ran over the boy with a motorcycle during an invasion of the town, where 275 schoolgirls were kidnapped by the insurgents.

According to a statement by the foundation, the medical bill for the spinal cord surgery to enable Ali to walk again is $48,000 (N14,640,000.00). Surgery will take place at a medical facility in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,

“Ali needs corrective surgery to enable him walk again after he was overrun by a motorcycle in Chibok by Boko Haram members during a night raid,” said Nuhu Kwajafa, Coordinator of Global Initiative For Peace, Love and Care (GIPLC), the NGO spearheading the campaign for the medical recovery of the young victim.

Kwajafa said the total financial requirement for the complete treatment of Ali was put at $60,000.00 (N18,300,00.00), including feeding, accommodation for three months.

He expressed thanks and appreciation to the National Assembly and all well-meaning Nigerians for their support and contribution, thus far.

Members of the GIPLC were at the Dickens Sanomi Foundation office in Abuja as part of the initiative to ensure that young Ali walks again.

They were received by Igho Sanomi, Chairman of the Foundation, and Board of Trustee members.

Sanomi, who is also Chairman of energy company Taleveras said, “as a father, it is very touching to see a young boy like this suffer. It is sad what some of our kids have to go through. This is an opportunity for us to show our love to those who need it.

“Although education remains the key focus of the Foundation, kids have to be healthy before they can attend school. On behalf of the board of trustees of Dickens Sanomi Foundation, we will take care of Ali, this will include paying the hospital bill and we will visit him in the hospital after the surgery.”

Founded in 2011 by the children of Dickens Oghenereumu Patrick Sanomi, the Dickens Sanomi Foundation (DSF) serves to commemorate the life of the family’s patriarch and to provide charitable support for that particular objective upon which he placed such great value, the education of Nigeria’s youth.