Nigerian billionaire Theophilus “TY” Danjuma is heading a N5 billion ($3.75 million) fundraising push to salvage one of northern Nigeria’s oldest secondary schools. The retired army general will headline the capital drive for Government College Katsina-Ala, a historic Benue State institution that has suffered years of severe infrastructural collapse and state neglect.

The event, arranged by the Katsina-Ala Old Boys Association, is slated for Oct. 19 at Abuja’s Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre. Regional governors, prominent business figures, and traditional rulers with historical links to the school are slated to attend. Organizers want to reverse decades of deterioration and reposition the 111-year-old campus as an academic hub.

Saving an academic legacy

KAOBA National President Anthony Adda said the alumni stepped in after repeatedly failing to secure government funding. The campus, founded in 1915, has seen little state upkeep in decades. Adda warned that without substantial private capital, the benchmark institution risks falling past the point of viable recovery for future generations.

Danjuma, an alumnus, jumpstarted the turnaround three years ago by bankrolling the complete overhaul of all five student dormitories. Organizers now want his philanthropy to prompt broader private-sector backing. Adda noted that while the living quarters were restored, the academic blocks remain trapped in time, virtually untouched since the late 1960s.

“Nobody has touched them,” Adda said, recalling that some current classrooms were already standing when he entered the school as a freshman in 1967. The association wants Danjuma’s direct involvement to challenge younger graduates into funding structural work, modern teaching facilities, and critical utilities across the expansive grounds.

TY Danjuma: Power, wealth, and legacy

TY Danjuma, who turned 87 in December 2025, commands one of Nigeria’s most resilient private fortunes. A former chief of army staff, he later served as defense minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2003. He broke into the global billionaire ranks after parlaying state service into lucrative ventures across West Africa.

His primary wealth engine remains South Atlantic Petroleum, an upstream player with prime offshore assets. Beyond oil, Danjuma’s business footprint covers maritime logistics through NAL-Comet, alongside equity in Notore Chemical Industries, Japaul Gold & Ventures, and drugmaker May & Baker Nigeria. Real estate developments and hospitality assets round out his substantial private balance sheet.

Much of his domestic philanthropy runs through the TY Danjuma Foundation, an endowment dedicated to public health and basic education across disadvantaged communities. This upcoming Abuja gathering marks his most visible push yet to pool private capital and overhaul the crumbling school system that shaped his early career.