The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Dangote

  • Dangote to sell N200b shares in block divestment

    Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), the majority core investor in Dangote Cement Plc, plans to sell shares valued at more than N200 billion in a partial divestment that will widen the float for Dangote Cement.

    DIL is owned by Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, with over 90 per cent majority equity in Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s most capitalised company.

    A document obtained by The Nation showed that Dangote Cement has secured regulatory approval for block divestment of 852.03 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. Dangote Cement opened yesterday at N235 per share at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The block divestment represents 5.0 per cent of the issued share capital of Dangote Cement.

    Dangote Cement’s issued share capital consists of 17.041 billion ordinary shares, which were valued at N4.004 trillion at the opening of the stock market yesterday. Dangote Cement accounts for more than 30 per cent of the total market capitalisation of quoted equities.

    A source in the know said the DIL plans to undertake the block sale in tranches and the recent sale of 416 million ordinary shares was the first tranche of the N200 billion divestment. About 2.44 per cent equity stake in Dangote Cement was swapped under pre-arranged transactions earlier this month. A report on the transactions indicated that six deals were struck for the transfer of 416 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at a below-the-market price of N210.

    The deals, according to the report, were done through the off-market, negotiated cross deals window of the Exchange and as such was not subjected to the dynamics of price discovery for the particular period. Off-market trade implied that the deal was sealed outside the floor of the NSE.

    The negotiated cross deal platform of the Exchange is a special-purpose trading platform that is meant for voluminous transaction. By the cross deal, it implies that the buyer and the seller had been prearranged and the transfer at the stock market was a mere perfection of the agreement between the two. The negotiated cross deal allows the parties to the deal to close the deal at reduced cost.

    While the details of the new major investor are still unknown, Meristem Stockbrokers Ltd sold the shares to Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Ltd, both stockbroking firms obviously acting on behalf of third party investors.

    Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers is a subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, a member of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group. Stanbic IBTC is known to act on behalf of foreign portfolio investors.

    South African government had in June 2013 bought into Dangote Cement. The South Africa’s government, through its wholly owned investment company, Public Investment Corporation of South Africa (PIC), had acquired 1.5 per cent equity stake in the Nigerian cement group to emerge the second largest equity investor.

    A reliable source said the block divestment might not be unconnected with a regulatory requirement to free more shares of the cement company for ownership and trading by minority investors.

    All companies listed on the NSE are required to have a certain minimum percentage of their shares in the hand of the general investing public, otherwise known as free float or public float.

    Free float refers to the number of shares of a quoted company held by ordinary shareholders other than those directly or indirectly held by its parent, subsidiary or associate companies or any subsidiaries or associates of its parent company; its directors who are holding office as directors of the entity and their close family members and any single individual or institutional shareholder holding a statutorily significant stake, which is 5.0 per cent and above in Nigeria.

    Thus, free float’s shares do not include shares held directly or indirectly by any officer, director, controlling shareholder or other concentrated, affiliated or family holdings.

    Stock markets maintain minimum public float to prevent undue concentration of securities in the hands of the core investors and related interests, a situation that can make the stock to be susceptible to price manipulation. Besides, it provides the general investing public with opportunity to reasonably partake in the wealth creation by private enterprises.

    Companies listed on the Exchange are required to maintain a minimum free float for the set standards under which they are listed in order to ensure that there is an orderly and liquid market in their securities. The free float requirement for companies on the premium and main boards is 20 per cent while companies on the third tier board, otherwise known as Alternative Securities Market (ASEM) are required to have 15 per cent free float. Dangote Cement is listed on the premium board of the Exchange. Meanwhile, the NSE allows a minimum free float valued at N40 billion for large-cap companies on the premium board.

    Failure by any company under free float deficiency to restructure its share capital at the expiration of the deadline usually issued by the Exchange or secure extension of the deadline may lead to delisting of its shares from the NSE.

  • Kano, Dangote, Rhino Group seal $150m solar power deal

    Kano State government, Dangote Group of Companies and Black Rhino Group, at the weekend in Kano, signed a $150 million Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on solar power project.

    On completion, within 24 months of the target period, the  power project is expected to generate 100 megawatts (Mw) of clean electricity, not only to industries but to the people of the state.

    The MoU was signed by Secretary to the Kano State Government (SSG), Alhaji Usman Alhaji on behalf of the state government, while the Executive Director, Dangote Group, Alhaji Manusr Ahmed, signed on behalf of the Dangote Group.

    In his address at the signing ceremony, the SSG, said the  power project is what is in vogue for now all over the world, stressing that need to provide energy for the progress and growth of the economy of the state.

    ‘’We need energy to make any progress and development anywhere in the world; so we believe this is a right step in the right direction and I wish to also reiterate that the Kano State government is very keen on this project and we are doing everything possible, under the leadership of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje to improve the life and living conditions of the people of Kano State,” he said.

    In his remarks, Ahmed said the purpose of the power project is meant to improve the economy of Kano as  centre of commerce in the sub-Saharan region.

    The project, which would be jointly financed by the Dangote Industries Limited and Black Rhino Group will provide a state of the art renewable energy plant that will convert the abundant energy of the sun into high quality clean electricity.

     

  • Dangote Refinery

    Dangote Refinery

    •A welcome development. But why can’t govt bring in more players?

    With its liberalisation plan failing to gain traction, and no clear pathway for its four moribund refineries, the Federal Government may have finally turned to billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote, to bail the country out of the fuel supply conundrum. On an inspection to the 650,000 barrels a day refineries complex in Lagos last week, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu – apparently overwhelmed by the promise of the complex effusively told his host: “I am sure His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari will be absolutely enthused if he were to find himself, not only crystallizing the policy position we have taken so far but also coming here himself to come and open a facility as big as this before the end of his first term. Whatever configurations your engineers have come up with, I urge that they go back to the drawing board and get me my refined products before your said date.”

    And on a note of reassurance, he reportedly told his host: “I think the first thing is that we must look seriously at whatever incentives this business needs. You cannot be investing $14bn in a country without sufficient incentives to drive the business”.

    For a project that was a little more than a dream few years back, it is welcome news that the project has not only turned the corner but is finally coasting home.We do admit that Dangote Refinery is in every respect the stuff of big dreams. Said to be the world’s largest single line refinery and petrochemical complex and the world’s second largest Urea Fertiliser plant, it is more than just a tribute to the Nigerian spirit, but one that promises to terminate the current shameful regime of fuel importation and consequently the continuing drain on the nation’s reserves.

    And so, like the minister, we cannot wait to see the refinery come alive. Indeed, considering what the citizens have put up with in the last 16 years –the cycles of Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) that have left the refineries worse off – not better, the endless promises about Greenfield Refineries that did not move beyond the pronouncement on them, and the fuel price hikes that have turned recurring nightmares to the ordinary citizen, we consider the promised respite as long overdue.

    Unfortunately, if the paradox of a government seeking salvation in the private sector after being unable to fix its own refineries is lost on the minister, worse is his enthusiasm in wanting to claim credit for a project that was conceived long before the current administration. Or his attempt to conflate the singular achievement with the advertised goal of liberalisation; then of course is the minister’s opportunistic push to hijack the project for political ends.

    If we understand the goal of liberalisation as advertised properly, it is supposed to open the sector to many players and to force competition.That was why the Federal Government licensed nearly two dozen players in the first place. To the extent that what we see on the horizon however is a single dominant player emerging – an oligopoly, Nigerians have very good basis to be anxious about what this portends in the short and long run.

    After all, Nigerians cannot be seen to move from the clutches of government monopoly into the warm embrace of private oligopoly.  That, obviously, does not fit into the advertised schema of liberalisation. Indeed, Nigerians will be hard pressed to judge the administration’s policy as successful on the strength that one out of several licensees managed to deliver. Or is the Federal Government telling Nigerians that the emergence of one big player is all there is to its liberalisation agenda?

    Rather than focus on Dangote Refinery that is almost as good as delivered, what the minister should be doing is pushing for other refineries to get on board. And to ensure that nothing is allowed to deny Nigerians the fruits of true competition in all its ramifications.

  • Kachikwu’s appeal to Dangote

    Kachikwu’s appeal to Dangote

    Where then is the myth called ‘federal might’?

    What many Nigerians feared was the Federal Government’s plan concerning self-sufficiency in fuel production would appear to have been confirmed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu’s appeal to Aliko Dangote, President/Chief Executive of the Dangote Group, to complete his 650,000 barrels/day refinery ahead of his planned December 2019 deadline. This has been the Federal Government’s body language on this issue, as it does not appear to have any coherent plan to let new refineries come on board or even sell off the moribund ones on which the country has spent huge resources on unending Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM) without much result.

    Kachikwu told Dangote during a visit to Dangote Oil Refinery at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, to inspect the progress of work on the plant that:”The challenge I give you as I leave here today will be one of time. I see your timing in terms of December 2019.

    “But I am sure you will understand if I tell you that the refinery component should come earlier. I have made very frank commitment to Nigerians that I must exit importation of petroleum products by 2019, and I am going to keep to it. Please, continue to push the envelope and see how we can do this.”

    To show how desperate the government is on the matter, the minister urged Dangote to tell his engineers to go back to the drawing board in order to make the refinery come on stream earlier than the end of 2019. To make this happen, he added that the government was ready to give incentives. According to Kachikwu, “Where do we come in as government? I think the first thing is that we must look seriously at whatever incentives this business needs. You cannot be investing $14bn in a country without sufficient incentives to drive the business.”

    Indeed, perhaps it is this new thinking that has made some people to speculate that Dangote is being secretly considered for the country’s presidency. One may have dismissed this with a wave of the hand but for the fact that this is the way such stories start. I remember I was in Kwara Hotels in Ilorin for a workshop (I think, on sustainable democracy) sometime in 1998 where it was first speculated that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who had only just been freed from prison (or was even about to be freed) was being considered for president, to compensate the Yoruba whose son, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election who was denied power by General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd). For me, that some people are tipping Dangote for the presidency may not be much of an issue if it is only about service delivery. The next question is: can Dangote deliver if elected president?

    That would seem a rhetorical question. He seems to have demonstrated the capacity to handle complex industrial concerns. Whether this is enough to make him a complete president is a different matter altogether. But what we know is that people who do not have his kind of antecedents had attempted the presidency with some succeeding and others falling by the wayside. But again, whether Dangote is capable or not, there is the danger of conflict of interest and even that of over-reliance on an individual.

    However, no sooner had Kachikwu made his appeal than some Nigerians began asking when the government would outsource the presidency so that the president and his entire cabinet members would simply go home, having handed over the country’s jugular to Dangote Refinery. Perhaps they are right.

    Left to Kachikwu, he would have sold the refineries as early as yesterday but for his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari, who prefers they be retained as public property. The president’s position is also understandable. But he is only being nostalgic about them. There is little the country can do right now about those refineries. The president’s case would have been strengthened if we had a working judicial system that can tame corruption because corruption is at the heart of why the four government-owned refineries are not working at any appreciable capacity. Unfortunately, the country has not got to the situation where it can successfully wage the type of anti-corruption war that can return sanity to the refineries. Our legal system is tilted too much in favour of the corrupt. This is why one is forced to agree with those who feel the government should sell off the refineries, painful as this might be.

    Without doubt, Dangote Refinery is a thing of joy and pride to Nigeria. That a Nigerian, the richest man in Africa; is building such a gigantic refinery is something to celebrate. But when it now becomes the main plank on which the government relies to end the importation of  petroleum products; it is a different matter entirely, indeed, at that point, it becomes a matter for regret. A nation should not put its eggs in one basket. Nigeria at this point is over-relying on Dangote and his group. No nation should put itself in a situation where it would catch cold when an individual sneezes. The way we are going, we will all have to shiver whenever Alhaji Dangote sneezes. We rely on him or his conglomerate for virtually everything under the sun; from food processing to cement, manufacturing, and freight. Sugar, flour and salt too are made by some of his companies. He is now also into rice cultivation; he is into fertiliser. His company exports cotton, cashew nuts, cocoa, sesame seed and ginger to several countries. It also has major investments in real estate, banking, transport, textiles and oil and gas. Dangote has also diversified into telecommunications, among others. The company employs over 11,000 people and is the largest industrial conglomerate in West Africa.

    So, Dangote has done so much for himself and even the country. Much as individual Nigerians can rely on him for almost everything under the sun, possibly for the air they breathe, not so the Nigerian government. When the government of some 150 million Nigerians begins to see an individual’s company as its alpha and omega, especially for the supply of fuel, it is ominous.

    It is not too late for the Federal Government to begin to think of what to do with its refineries apart from keeping them to continue constituting a drain on public purse. I hope Minister Kachikwu is not saying he had no ‘Plan B’ when he was assuring Nigerians more than a year ago that we would stop fuel import by 2019? This is what his passionate appeal to Dangote to fast track the coming on stream of his refinery seems to suggest. The government had talked about modular refineries; it had talked about co-location of refineries, etc. What has happened to all that?

    Now, the government is talking of incentives to facilitate the take-off of Dangote Refinery. This is one area many Nigerians have had to criticise the Dangote Group: that but for government’s waivers and other incentives, it would not have been whatever it is today. But now, Dangote Group is not the one lobbying the government; it is the other way round. One can only hope the critics of the group will bear this in mind when those incentives begin to come. But how these would make Dangote Refinery not to look the way of exportation if that is more lucrative than selling petroleum products in our regulated fuel market is yet to be seen because the refinery is first and foremost, a commercial venture. This is much more so when it is the supposedly stronger party that is begging a weaker one for a favour.

  • Dangote’s route to the presidency?

    SIR: Donald Trump’s presidency over there in the US is a veritable trail-blazer for every billionaire-businessperson anywhere in the world who aspires to be one. A smooth passage to any such presidency comes when the electorate becomes fed up with an unwieldy establishment and thence looks out for a departure from the norm.

    Aliko Dangote could begin by launching a retail chain modelled after Wal-Mart, with stores in the major urban centres of Nigeria that caters to that distinctive Nigerian market; in addition to this, Dangote could venture into “super-landlord” investment by building leasable residential estates of all categories in all the 36 state capitals for a start whilst emphasising central sewage processing and overall cleanliness by the tenants; each of these estates would be serviced by at least an outlet of a Dangote-Mart, say. By this means, Dangote would bring himself to an even fuller positive public reckoning as well as directly helping plug the inefficiencies of our governments in the areas of providing decent accommodation even at a good leasehood.

    Let us just imagine a mega-Dangote housing estate that caters to the very low-income earners who would be required to pay, say, N3000 monthly for a one-room self-contained apartment every month through an appointed estate agent in favour of the Dangote Inc.

    Would Aliko need to campaign much for the presidency under such circumstance?

     

    • Sunday Adole Jonah

    Federal University of Technology, Minna

  • Oyo gets farm imput from Dangote’s firm

    Oyo gets farm imput from Dangote’s firm

    The Oyo State government at the weekend said it got 25 metric tonnes of fertilisers and rice seedlings from Dangote Group of Companies.

    The items are to be distributed to 292 rice farmers in the state.

    In a statement by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Toye Arulogun, the government said the distribution of the seedlings will start on July 19.

    It noted that the fertilisers and rice seedlings showed the commitment of the state government to the Dangote Rice Outgrowership Scheme under the Oyo State Agric Initiative (AgricOyo).

    Governor Abiola Ajimobi announced the scheme last month during the launch of WAMCO Milk Collection Centre at Saki.

    Receiving the seedlings on behalf of the state government at OYSADEP Warehouse at Saki, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Agriculture, Fajimi Shakirullahi, noted that about 800 bags of fertilisers had been delivered at a warehouse in Awe for rice farmers in the area.

    He said the remaining seedlings were for farmers in Oke-Ogun with about 500 hectares of farmland.

    The governor’s aide said they were earmarked for pilot project, adding that the farmland was expected to increase to 6,000 hectares during next farming season.

    Fajimi allayed fears that the fertilisers and seedlings might not get to genuine farmers, saying: “Farmers who registered with the government will benefit from this gesture. We know them. We have been meeting with them and they will surely benefit.

  • Dangote Comes to Taraba

    It was the week of pleasant developments in Taraba State. The state moved away from the ugly, highly exaggerated and, in most cases, false stories about the Mambilla crisis to the positive side of issues relating to the future of the state. That dispensation of the good things was heralded by the visit to Government House Thursday July 6, by Alhaji Walil Jibril, eminent Fulani man and grand patron of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association. He had come into the state to ascertain the true state of things concerning the crisis. Some sections of the media had sought to project the crisis as inter-ethnic and inter-religious. After meeting with critical stakeholders on the crisis where he was briefed elaborately on the events leading to the crisis, he visited Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku and later addressed the media.

    During his interaction with the press, Jibril said his visit to the state had been an eye-opener. He said the media reports that had sought to portray the crisis to have targetted the Fulani in Mambilla were wrong. He said the crisis was not ethnic, not religious and was not a case of ethnic cleansing but a communal crisis over land for farming and grazing. “The issue in dispute here is land. Among the Fulani in Mambilla, there are cattle breeders and farmers. Among the other Mambilla tribes, there are also cattle owners. So the dispute is about land which is required for farming and grazing on both sides but which has become inadequate because of population growth.”

    Alhaji Jibril also dismissed suggestions in the media that the government didn’t do enough to restore peace to the communities and noted that such suggestions were unfair to the state Governor and all those who risked their lives to provide care for the victims. “Our findings have also shown that the government has done a lot and achieved a lot in providing care for the victims. Those making such allegations against the government only want to confuse the people and arouse negative sentiments that cannot help the situation,” he said. It was one of those few occasions when Governor Ishaku made no speech publicly but preferred others to do so. Walil, a leading Fulani personality, found the truth and publicly admitted the truth thus clearing every misgiving about the true nature of the Mambilla crisis.

    Wednesday, July 12, 2017 was a major milestone for Taraba State. Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest individual and president of the Dangote Group, came visiting Governor Ishaku. He came with the good news about his investment drive in the state. He is investing Billions of Naira in Sugar production in Lau and in agriculture, particularly, in rice production. His visit came on the heels of a major decision taken by Ishaku about two months ago to pave the way for the sugar company which had been delayed for 13 years due to lack of political will on the part of previous administrations in the state, to take off.

    At a reception for the business mogul in Government House, Governor Ishaku said he was happy that the project was taking off at last. He said given the reputation exhibited over the years by Dangote, there is no doubt that sugar will soon be exported from Taraba State. “The greatest aspect of what is about to happen in the state is that, the company will employ thousands of people from Taraba. I’m so happy because this is what we want. I will ensure that every obstacle on the way of the company’s success is removed.”

    The Governor alluded to some of the crises that happened in the state and said most of them were due to idleness. “People who have serious things to do will not have time to quarrel or fight. Your coming into the state with this huge investment is a great development and I’m overwhelmed with joy”, he said. He told his guest that when he was coming in as Governor, he had his famous Green Book in hand which contained ideas of what he planned to do to transform the state. One of those things was to change the state from its civil service status to an economically viable and vibrant state. That transformation has been slowed down by the need to pay salaries regularly every month and after which there is hardly any resources left for other projects. But he said with the coming of Dangote, that transformation has started. “From today, Taraba starts moving from that status of a civil service state”, the Governor said.

    Ishaku also further recounted his experience early in the life of his administration. He said when he came into office there was no water good for drinking. He had to provide it. He also had to ensure that salaries were paid regularly. The administration also had to fix some roads which, including Kona road. He said the remaining portion of that road leading to Lau would be done to make things easy for the workers in the new sugar company. He urged Dangote to regard Taraba as home and promised that all the encumbrances that had worked against the early take-off of the company would be removed.

    Dangote who spoke earlier sympathised with the Governor and the people of the state on the Mambilla crisis and the death of Danbaba Suntai, former governor of the state. He announced a donation of 50 million Naira in aid of government efforts to rehabilitate victims. He said the visit was his second to Jalingo and it is intended “to show my seriousness about our investment in agriculture.” He said his company was on a mission to create jobs in the state through agriculture and thousands of such jobs will be created.” He said sugar is not the only thing of interest to his group in Taraba but rice production too. Taraba , he said, will be provided with one of the biggest rice mills in the country.

    He said in four years, the company will produce 4.2 million tonnes of sugar and noted that the Lau Sugar Company will be run as evidence of the Dangote Group’s seriousness. He said he was in the state to assure the government and the people that the Taraba project will be a reality. “Thousands of people will be employed. We will also train a lot of people. Many will also be enriched. We will not only make money but invest it in more projects here.” He said the company will also be very alive to its corporate social responsibility roles. “We will not disappoint the people of the state as a company”, he assured.

    On July 7, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankoso, former Governor of Kano State also came calling on Governor Ishaku. He was in the state to condole the Governor and the people of the state on the death of Danbaba Suntai, former governor and to sympathise with the state on the recent crisis in Mambilla. He urged the Governor not to allow that incident to dampen his enthusiasm to reposition the state for development but to continue to work for peace. Governor Ishaku thanked the former Kano State governor for the visit and described the late Danbaba Suntai as a humble person. He said Danbaba Suntain visited him three times while he was minister, an action he said was evidence of the late governor’s humility. Ishaku also condoled the former Governor, the government and people of Kano State on the recent death of Alhaji Maitama Sule, former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

  • Dangote showers cash on Ife clash victims

    Dangote showers cash on Ife clash victims

    THE Dangote Foundation yesterday donated millions of naira to victims of the recent Yoruba and Hausa communal clash at Ile-Ife in Osun State.

    The financial aid, the donors said, was meant to cushion the effect of the violence.

    Yoruba and Hausa beneficiaries hailed Dangote for the gesture at the donation ceremony at the palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi.

    It was witnessed by the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, as well as other notable Yoruba monarchs.

    As cheques were presented to the 220 beneficiaries, Access Bank officials were on hand to convert the cheques for those who wanted cash.

    The Ooni hailed Dangote for helping the needy each time the need arose to help victims of natural disaster or man-instigated calamity.

    Oba Ogunwusi said Dangote’s generosity was unparalleled, adding that many other rich men and women could have done the same thing, but chose to keep to themselves.

    He said: “Dangote is touching the people’s lives in so many ways: either through his array of products or through his employment generation. Now, he has added humanitarian assistance to it; giving back to the society and doling out money to help Nigerians in need.

    “Our youths are jobless and 70 per cent of our population comprises of youths. Dangote is helping the youths. I appeal to our youths to embrace peace. Those who engage in hate speeches and threats of war should stop. When there is violence, the executors are youths and the victims will be youths.

    “Let us come together for a positive cause for ourselves and say enough is enough. I have surrendered my life to the cause of youths; so also has the Emir of Kano and several other monarchs. So, I challenge other wealthy Nigerians to emulate Alhaji Dangote. I enjoin the youths to please pray for him.”

    Alhaji Sanusi regretted that the people who engaged in violence forget that peace is essential for growth to take place.

    He hailed the Ooni for the mature manner he handled the Ile-Ife clash when it broke out.

    The Kano monarch said the Ooni briefed him and the Sultan of Sokoto on the incident.

    According to the emir, with the action Oba Ogunwusi has taken so far, both of them were convinced that the Ooni did the right thing to douse tension and ensure peaceful co-existence.

    Sanusi said the violence was regretted, adding that with the measures put in place, such incident would not happen again in Ife or any part of Nigeria.

    He added: “I implore those spreading hate speeches not to set Nigeria in flames. War would not do anybody any good.

    “Those beating the drums or war and seeking secession should take a look at the map of Africa and see how war has torn into pieces countries like Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, among others.

    “I would like to thank Alhaji Dangote for his constant responses to distress calls for assistance whenever there is problem in any part of Nigeria. With what we witnessed that day, we pray such would never happen again.”

    The Chief Executive Officer of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Mrs. Zouera Youssoufou, said Dangote felt bad by the clash between the Hausa and the Yoruba.

    The foundation chief said Dangote promised to provide aid to the victims of the clash.

    Mrs Youssoufou said the gesture was meant to help them resettle and return to life “as what happened was not wished for in the first place”.

  • Allegations against Kano ex-Speaker embarrassing, says Dangote

    Allegations against Kano ex-Speaker embarrassing, says Dangote

    Africa’s leading businessmen Aliko Dangote has described bribery allegations against former Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, Kabiru Rurum, as “falsehood”. He told the House of Assembly committee probing the allegation: “Don’t waste your time, it’s all falsehood”.

    Dangote Group spokesman Tony Chiejina said the allegation has no foundation whatsoever, and is an ‘outright falsehood”.

    An online media, on June 17, alleged that Dangote gave Rurum N100 million to kill the

    Chiejina told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday that the allegation has been embarrassing to Dangote.

    “Aliko Dangote does not even know Rurum, let alone being his friend, as alleged by the report,” Chiejina said.

    The Kano Assembly, meanwhile, has asked a five-man committee to investigate the allegations.

  • Dangote And Arewa Youths’ Uncouth Ranting

    Madness has no defined pattern. To insist on orderliness in insanity is asking for the impossible or the Biblical camel passing through the eye of a needle. I also know that personal idiosyncrasies cannot be garbed in general conviction for every person.

    What has got me thinking is the insistence of Northern youths on the rightness of the three months quit notice they issued Nd’igbo resident in Northern Nigeria to relocate to their ancestral Southeast region of Nigeria. More arcane is the inclination of these youths to insult, hurl invectives and lampoon anybody who does not share this barbaric thought.
    The latest signals from these Northern youths on intolerance against opposing voices to their recipe for violence and destabilization of Nigeria is the umbrage against a prominent Northerner. The iconic Nigerian and international business tycoon, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who is Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group came into their baseless crossfire when he counseled them to have a rethink over such manifest pomposity. So, the youths imagined that they have a greater stake in Northern Nigeria than Dangote.
    Nothing is impossible in Nigeria. When Dangote pleaded with Nigerians to ignore the so called Arewa youths, who issued eviction order to the Igbos in the North as inconsequential, the near faceless northern youths went berserk, crazily insulting a man who is unpretentiously a pillar of their survival as a people and a region.
    A public statement issued by the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) through its spokesman, Abdul-Azez Suleiman, these demented Northern youths described Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man in very despicable terms.
    Nothing can ever be so disheartening like this apparent display of ingratitude and debauchery by these crooked Northern youths, incensed for inexplicable reasons. What I cannot fathom is that much as people have reasons for their madness or remain dogmatic in silliness, it is idiotic to compel followership by force. The weird thought that everybody must coercively accept the excuse or reason for certain genus of madness as exuded by CNG is not tenable anywhere.
    Any attempt to decipher the mission of the statement on Dangote by these patently demented Northern youths leaves me with a nagging dilemma. I am really confused because youths claiming the toga of the conscience and voice of a large region like Northern Nigeria display the least grasp of the traditional afflictions of the region.
    No one knowledgeable about the North would claim its problem is barrenness of morality. Morality has no placement in the science of development or the econometrics of the region. It is sloth and the unbridled appetite for violence, as even presently canvassed by the Northern youths that is the burden of the North. That’s why it is largely undeveloped. Islam or Christianity has taken care of moral values in the North.
    If the North is presumed poor as they have canvassed, it’s because the youths have refused to copy the Dangote example, who, as a budding, energetic young man, traversed the nooks and crannies of Nigeria trading in small wares. And today, his business has appreciated in leaps and bounds, to place it high on the list of world recognized business conglomerates.
    And like self-indictment, the youth’s preachments on upholding Northern values and its abuse by people like Dangote dissects and exposes their poverty of the mind. Nigerian borders are very porous, particularly in the North and so aliens, smuggle themselves into the country.
    And the Northern youths strike me like such people. This is how Nigeriens illegally migrated into Nigeria and left us with Boko Haram insurgency. The insistence of members of the CNG on lighting up a conflagration in the North and Nigeria compels my deep suspicion in this direction.
    And there are proofs. Precisely, if members of CNG are truly Northerners, they would understand that the culture of its people pay utmost respect and regard to elders. Even those influenced by drugs know the limits of madness and could not do as little as point a finger at an elder, much more unleash insults like the perverse minds in the CNG delight in doing. And like Dangote rightly qualified, just to earn underserved relevance.
    The Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello never at any point canvassed such volatile or dissenting views on Nigeria. He preached peace and love; lived and died for the progress of the North and the unity of Nigeria. So, where have they borrowed the ideology of violence as means of resolution of disputes, on which platform they have tethered their present campaigns of hate against the Igbos or any group in Nigeria?
    Dismissing Dangote as inconsequential is immaterial. He does not need their endorsement or consent to preside over his global business empire. The idea of patriotism is subjective; So, if the youths believe that the resort to hate speeches, segregation and campaigns for Nigeria’s break-up is patriotism, Dangote and millions of other Northerners do not believe in it, period!
    They can go ahead and lick their wounds, but should neither drag others into their nightmare nor expect sympathy from sane minds. When they talk of Professor Ango Abdullahi in patriotic terms because of his support of their destructive intentions, it makes me seek.
    Much I would not like to drag his personality into mud, it suffices to say, he remains the only Northerner of repute who has openly supported the insanity of the CNG. Even at that, he has done it criminally, by usurping the platform of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), taking undue advantage of his position as Spokesman of the group. NEF has widely disowned his comments on the eviction order to Igbo. If characters like Ango Abdullahi are the Northern elders CNG worship, it means the future of the North is irretrievably gambled to vultures.
    And it is understandable. In the first place, the CNG membership itself is packaged on fraud because when you have Northern grandfathers and uncles above the age of sixty or septuagenarians’ , claiming to be youths for the sake of railroading a selfish and armchair revolution, they have no option than to support debased elders. So, the natural option is to make loud noise to be noticed, while they veil the fraudulence.
    At their ages, Dangote had already become a notable name in business in Nigeria and Africa. Today, the Dangote Group has created countless jobs for idle youths like them all over Nigeria. And Northern youths are the majority beneficiaries. If the verbal restlessness of CNG members is a result of idleness, they are free to approach any of his companies for engagement. What will keep destroying the North is when youths spend productive age and hours spreading hate campaigns instead of investing in productive and lucrative ventures.
    I do not see how the Igbos quitting the North would make its economy better. The solution is in productivity whether in business or farming. And Dangote is a model in this respect and CGN members shall do their souls some good if they emulate him.
    History and posterity will gleefully remember Dangote as one Northerner who opened the doors of development and progress in the North. But on the flipside, these CNG members shall only be gloomily remembered as apostles of violence.
    It’s unfortunate that the loquaciousness’ of CNG members has laid bare their cursed senses. Initially, Nigerians thought they had genuine convictions. But on the contrary, like IPOB’s leader Nnamdi Kanu, I now know violent youth activism in Nigeria is propelled by hunger and joblessness. I plead with Dangote to get some trailer trucks ready for these idle CNG members to work, hauling cement, sugar and rice from his factories to markets around Nigeria for us to have some peace.
    Working and indeed, hard work is the only way to develop and free the North from poverty, and not the hoopla of disintegration. While the Southeasterners’ have not abandoned the traditional occupation of their forefathers, like trading in “Okporoko” (stock fish); their half-educated counterparts in the North, especially in the CNG have forgotten the traditional occupation of our forefathers-cattle rearing and farming. Until they return to these, there can never be peace in their souls, but they cannot plunge the North nay Nigeria into violence. Finally, Dangote is a self -fulfilled man in business and wealth. He has never been interested in politics, even now. He has been prodded several times to pick up Nigeria’s Presidency on a platter of gold, but he rejected it. He has no Trumpian instincts, which are only known to American’s in President Donald Trump. So, the grandparents camouflaging as youths in CNG should focus their tenuous and vindictive energies elsewhere.

    Okanga, a traditional warrior contributed this piece from Agila, Benue State.