The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Dangote

  • NSE market capitalization grows by N117 bn in one day

    The nation’s equity market on Tuesday maintained a bullish trend for the eighth consecutive day with the indices appreciating by 1.28 per cent and the volume by 101.48 per cent.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the market capitalization increased by N117 billion or 1.28 per cent to close at N9.249 trillion against N9.132 trillion on Monday.

    Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 26,418.33 rose by 337.88 points or 1.28 per cent to close at 26,756.21 due to huge gains posted by some highly capitalised stocks.

    A breakdown of the price movement chart indicated that Dangote Cement led the gainers’ table, gaining N2.50 to close at N162 per share.

    Nigerian Breweries followed with a gain of N2 to close at N132 and Oando increased by 80k to close at N8.69 per share.

    Okomuoil gained 72k to close at N48.52, while PZ Industries appreciated by 70k to close at N15.70 per share.

    Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd. , attributed the growth to investors and traders renewed confidence to impressive earnings of first quarter of 2017 released by some companies.

    Omordion stated that the current uptrend was the longest streak since the beginning of the year.

    He added that investors were taking advantage of low valuation of equities to reposition and increase their stake in the market.

    Omordion said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) new foreign exchange policy contributed to the market trend.

    On the other hand, Total topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N6 to close at N249 per share.

    7UP Bottling Company trailed with a loss of N1.89 to close at N102 and Lafarge Africa dipped N1.10 to close at N48.50 per share.

    Dangote Sugar declined by 24k to close at N6.46, while Presco shed 10k to close at N46.90 per share.

    NAN also reports that FCMB Group drove the activity chart, accounting for 243.86 million shares valued at N239.40 million.

    Zenith International Bank followed with 52.29 million shares worth N856.16 million, while United Bank for Africa traded 42.53 million shares valued at N274.51 million.

    Diamond Bank sold 33.94 million shares worth N29.02 million and FBN Holdings exchanged 22.81 million shares valued at N81.35 million.

    In all, a total of 539.23 million shares worth N2.82 billion were transacted by investors in 4,519 deals, representing an increase of 101.48 per cent.

    This was in contrast with a turnover of 267.64 million valued at N3.26 billion traded in 3,907 deals.

     

  • Dangote targets 10,000 vehicles with new plant

    Dangote targets 10,000 vehicles with new plant

    Dangote Sinotruck West Africa Limited has rolled out its first set of locally assembled trucks.
    The new entry into the automobile industry began an eight-hour shift that would see it assembling between four and five trucks per day at its Ikeja, Lagos-based plant.
    It is a joint venture between Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote and China’s heavy duty truck group, Sinotruck, with Dangote having 65 per cent share leaving the remaining 35 per cent for the Chinese firm.
    According to Reuters, Dangote Group Executive Director Edwin Devakumar said the 100 million dollars plant would assemble cars soon.
    Conducting automobile journalists round the assembly plant on Oba Akran Way, Ikeja, the Group General Manager, Projects, Mr. Hikmat Thapa, said it was the first phase of the project.
    He said the second phase would begin in June with two shifts per day and hoped to do 24-hour daily operation moving from Semi-Knocked Down components to Completely Knocked Down (parts) assembly.
    “As soon as we move on to 24-hour daily operation, we will churn out between 20 and 30 trucks per day. We are starting with SKD and now waiting for the CKD parts coming at the end of the month,” he said.
    Thapa said the plant, with installed capacity to assemble 10,000 trucks annually, will take care of local demand as well as produce for export to some West African countries.
    He said it is the company’s plan to produce the cabin needed by the locally assembled vehicles, which would signal the inclusion of local content in the truck production venture.
    The company said, in a statement, that it would assemble and produce full range of commercial vehicles covering heavy duty truck, medium truck, light truck and other semi-trailers, which would create 3,000 jobs for Nigerians.
    “It will also provide new employment opportunities, improve local automobile technology, equipment and technology level, promote the economic development in Nigeria,” it added.
    Giving a background of the technical partner, it stated, “Sinotruk (Hong Kong) Limited, which was established in 1960, has the largest production and export base for heavy-duty truck in China.”

  • Adesina predicts Dangote ’ll be largest exporter of rice in 2021

    Adesina predicts Dangote ’ll be largest exporter of rice in 2021

    African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina has predicted that President of Dangote Group Alhaji Aliko Dangote may become the largest exporter of rice in the world by 2021.
    Speaking at the Mo Ibrahim Forum in Morocco over the weekend, Adesina said Africa must focus on agriculture to drive growth and create jobs on the continent.
    “I remember when I was minister of Agriculture in Nigeria, Aliko Dangote was there and he was our biggest importer at the time. He and I used to dialogue all the time,” Adesina said.
    He noted that when he argued with Dangote on some government policies, especially the import substitution policies, he pledged to comply with the policy.
    The AfDB president added that to show his commitment, Dangote changed his business as an importer to a local producer.
    He said: “I asked him what exactly he intends to do and he responded that he will put in $300 million into producing and processing rice in Nigeria. I was happy to hear that and l commended him for his commitment. But like everything about him, he came back some months back to say he has changed his mind from investing $300 million to a billion dollars.
    “My take is that if this policy is continued, he would probably be the single largest producer of rice in the world in about four years. The reason why I was so excited about that is that agriculture is business and pays.”
    A tripartite agreement put together by the Dangote Rice Limited to create jobs for 16,000 out-grower rice farmers in Sokoto was recently signed with the Sokoto State government and rice growers, after which he launched the rice out-growers scheme in Sokoto.
    The Chairman of Dangote Rice Limited said he was moved to go into rice cultivation because of the genuine interest of the Federal Government to revive agriculture as the mainstay of the economy and reduce importation of foods that could be produced locally.
    He lamented that Nigeria consumes 6.5 metric tonnes of rice, which costs the nation over $2 billion annually.
    Dangote added that it is heartening that the government now has policy direction that encourages private sector’s active participation in agriculture.
    He noted that “In the next three years, we want to produce one million tonnes of quality rice and make it available and affordable to the people. We hope to do 150,000 hectare and when we are done, Nigeria will not have anything to do with importation of rice.
    “Dangote Rice out-growers scheme is committed to creating significant number of jobs, increasing the incomes of smallholders’ farmers and ensuring food security in the country by providing high quality seeds, fertilisers and agro-chemicals as well as technical assistance on best agricultural practice to farmers.”

  • 60 cheers for Dangote

    60 cheers for Dangote

    •Aliko Dangote, Africa’s pride is 60 and it’s morning yet

    HIS name, his bearing, his demeanour and even his infectious smiles are all testimonies to his simple, down to earth nature. Unlike other African big men who wear a chain of titles and are burdened by a string of names, he bears just Aliko Dangote and the whole world simply calls him Aliko.
    His ways are unlike the ways of most immensely wealthy people – never an anxious moment, never a furrowed brow nor an attempt to play the role of a much encumbered mogul. His calm, quiet public persona belies a man who is the richest in Africa and is among the top 50 in the world. How could a man bear such cubit weights in his head and still remain so cool; you wonder?
    A man of simple ways and with no airs whatsoever; he is an unapologetic patriot and African nationalist of the economic mold. He has friends across the country and he is known to love traditional music of the juju genre.
    But be not fooled by Dangote’s benign looks and humble ways, this fellow is no country yokel. He is indeed the most dreaded, if not dreadful businessman from this corner of the universe. Ask major commodity traders if indeed there are any major ones left – thanks to Aliko. He seems to brook no competition; any trade or business he ventures into, he dominates totally. This must be his business mantra. He sure knows his politics too in an environment akin to a jungle.
    When rice was in vogue, he was the number one importer. When he imported sugar, he did not only crash the price at will to lead the market, he chose his customers. Today, he owns about the largest sugar manufacturing plant in the world.
    The same for flour and cement: initially he acquired a chunk of the nation’s premier port in Lagos and gained immense advantage in flour and cement imports and re-bagging. He now owns about five terminals for this purpose across the country. Apparently this didn’t seem to make a dent on competition; Dangote took one step ahead jumping head-long into manufacturing. He acquired numerous dusty, old cement plants in the country and turned them into industrial showpieces; Obajana, in Kogi State, for instance, has been upgraded into the largest in Africa.
    Today, he probably controls about 75 per cent of Nigeria’s huge cement market. He dealt a bad hand to one competitor and works hard to circumscribe others. But the Nigerian cement market may well have become a small sea for this shark. He has swum offshore, so to speak, in the large, wide ocean of cement trade.
    It is to Dangote’s credit that he has made Africa his footstool as far as cement trade is concerned, setting up plants and re-bagging terminals in 14 African countries which include, South Africa, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroun, Tanzania and Ethiopia, among others.
    The Dangote Group is unarguably the single largest home-grown conglomerate on the continent of Africa today. And it’s entirely a Nigerian original and a Dangote vision. Boasting over a dozen companies and some 20 brands, just as the founder is merely 60, his business empire is still unfurling and promises to challenge the best corporations anywhere in the world.
    Then again all of these would become insignificant as the game-changer takes another ‘crazy’ leap forward. About three years ago, Aliko dived into petroleum refining and petrochemicals. Not one for half measures, he is now in the thick of erecting one of the world’s largest crude oil refinery and petrochemical companies in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos.
    Estimated to cost about $17 billion, the 650,000 barrels per day plant is expected to begin production early 2019. It will employ about 250,000 people and represent one of the single most critical investment decisions in Africa in the last three decades. He is also venturing into crude production in Sao Tome, as well as power generation.
    Dangote is indeed a patriot and we wish him well on his 60th birthday.

  • Dangote at 60

    Dangote at 60

    Time to celebrate an achiever

    It is immaterial whether you like the face of Aliko Dangote, founder of the Dangote Group, a Nigerian multinational industrial conglomerate, or not. Indeed, I had restrained from writing on him for personal reasons. The last time I would have been tempted to do was when he made known his intention to start a refinery. Even then, I still told myself that I should wait till the 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery takes off in 2019. But now that his 60th birthday is here ahead of the 2019 date, and especially in the light of the unparalleled primitive accumulation in the land, the multi-million dollar gifts and all, I felt perhaps there is no better time than now to add voice to whatever story has been told about this man and his business conglomerate. Isn’t it better to say something positive about an acclaimed achiever than waste valuable time and effort on a man flaunting his third class degree in public, for instance?

    It is difficult, if not impossible not to notice a man like Dangote. Dangote Group is a manufacturer of everyday consumables commodities and more –  pasta, beverages, and real estate, telecommunications, fertilizer and steel. If you are not using Dangote cement, you are likely to be using his sugar. If you are not using his sugar, you must be buying his salt, or his flour. Kids love his noodles. And lately, he has joined the big ones in the Oil and Gas industry. That means, soon, very soon, we will be buying his petrol.

    How then can anyone say he does not know or does not care about such a man; the richest man in Africa, and the 23rd (Forbes list of billionaires) richest in the world as at 2014? His name rings a bell not just in Nigeria but across the African continent and even beyond. Unlike many Nigerian portfolio billionaires who claim they have million dollars as gifts, we know what Dangote does for a living. That is why the man would have his money in the banking system. He can give you a blow-by-blow account of how he made it.

    A man with the largest conglomerate in West Africa and one of the largest in Africa that generated revenue in excess of US$3 billion in 2015 cannot be shoved aside in any part of the world. One cannot pretend not to see a man whose companies employed directly over 26,000 workers as at 2015. At least we can see that his money is not the proceed of some gifts by some benevolent spirits. Indeed, if those who claimed they had millions of dollar as gifts did not know what to do with their gifts; they should have given the dollars to Dangote to create jobs for our teeming youths who are roaming the streets in search of non-existent jobs. If Dangote started his business empire with a mere $3,000 loan, one can imagine what he would do with $9million dollars in his companies’ coffers. Really, it is difficult to blame a man who had $9million gifts for not knowing what to do with it beyond tucking it away in some obscure building in a remote part of the country. Since it was not money earned, one can easily compare him with the man in the scriptures who had only one talent and hid it in the ground.

    Dangote deserves the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, the second highest honour in Nigeria, bestowed on him by the Goodluck Jonathan government on November 14, 2011 and much more. It was also a befitting honour that he beat the closing gong for the N17 trillion Nigerian stock market on April 10, to mark his diamond jubilee. He had served as second vice president, first vice president and president of the Council and is presently an ex-officio member.

    Of course a man like Dangote cannot be without criticisms. It is not easy to get to the top; and it is even easier getting there than staying there. So, Dangote and his conglomerate have been accused of sundry charges. The piece would be one-sided if I ignore these.

    Not a few see the comatose rail system in the country as the handiwork of Dangote and other people in the haulage business. The critics say a man like him cannot wish for an effective rail system in Nigeria, having invested heavily in trucks and trailers for his conglomerate. Isn’t this analogous to blaming waiters in restaurants for obesity?

    Another allegation is that Dangote uses his wide connections and influence to muzzle competitors. I wonder how that is the man’s business. Is it not the business of the government to put in place measures that would not make that happen? In the United States, for instance, there is the Antitrust Laws to check such excesses.

    Some even hold it against him that he had been unduly ‘favoured’ with waivers and other incentives by successive governments. But it is also true that some of those who got such ‘favours’ from successive governments have not utilised them well. At least, as for Dangote, we can see what he is doing with the ‘favours’. Some churches also got waivers (which one cannot understand why they were given in the first place, for all manner of things which have no bearing with their calling). What we see thereafter are schools and universities established by those churches that most of their members cannot afford.

    Again, one cannot but mention the menace that some of his truck drivers constitute to other road users. They are just like accidents waiting to happen. Just last Wednesday, on my way to Oyo, one of the radio stations reported the sentencing of one such driver by a court for killing two persons or so. Another reportedly killed three pedestrians at the Arepo area of Ogun State on Tuesday. Perhaps what can be said here is that the companies should continue to educate the drivers on the need to drive carefully and with the consideration for other road users. Those who still commit crimes have the law to contend with, as with the driver just sentenced. Considering the sheer number of trucks owned by the conglomerate, it is not unlikely that they will always be on the roads, with the attendant possibility of mishaps.

    In a country where those who had the best of education have excelled in nothing other than stealing of public funds which they rather keep in idle homes or bury underground, rather than put to productive use, one cannot but salute a man like Dangote. As the man sees opportunities, he goes for them. Part of what is going for him is his sound business acumen and his audacity. Dangote does not fear to tread where many dread. That can only be the explanation for his foray into refining of petroleum products. I have lost count of the number of people who applied for license to establish refineries in the country and were given but did nothing thereafter.

    However, from the body language of the Federal Government, it seems it has also abandoned its plan to get more people into the business. Now, it seems to be banking on modular refineries that it would run in conjunction with militants and others who had been doing illegal refining of petroleum products in the Niger Delta. Little is heard of co-location and other plans that the Federal Government used to harp on when fuel scarcity almost crippled the country last year. All eyes seem fixed on 2019 when Dangote Refinery would commence operation. Again, when that time comes and things do not go the way we had expected, particularly with pricing, people, including those who had got licenses to set up refineries but ran away would blame Dangote.

    Nothing I have said should be mistaken for unconditional admiration for Aliko Dangote and his conglomerate. Apart from some of the issues I already mentioned, it is not good for a country to put all its hopes in an individual. A country like Nigeria that is getting punished now for relying on a mono-cultural economy for decades should never wish for a repeat of such punishment in whatever form. Although Dangote has promised to spread prosperity, the Federal Government must also play its part to ensure both the success of Dangote’s initiatives as well as safeguard the national interest.

    Born on April 10, 1957, in Kano, Kano State, Dangote knew what he wanted and went for it after getting his degree in Business from Al-Alhar University, Cairo, Egypt. Even as a teenager, he was selling packs of sweets in his secondary school days. What has now become a business giant, the Dangote Group, started as a mini-trading business with a N500,000 loan that Dangote got from an uncle, Sanusi Abdulkadir Dantata, when he (Dangote) was just 21 years old. Thirty-nine years after, Dangote can now look back and give thanks to his uncle and God Almighty for what is obviously more than little mercies.

    I wish Aliko Dangote long life and even more prosperity.

  • Dangote writes for YouWin! Connect

    Dangote writes for YouWin! Connect

    President/CEO of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, will write an article in the next edition of YouWiN! Connect, which will be published in five newspapers.

    The article, which will focus on “Starting Small”, will be published in The Punch and Vanguard on Sunday; and in Leadership, Trust and The Nation on Wednesday.

    A statement by Project Director, YouWiN! Connect, Dennis A.V. Chukwu said Dangote’s article will be published Academy section.

    Dangote wrote: “I have always had a passion for business. As a child, I remember trading in confectioneries amongst my classmates and as I grew older, I gathered business experience working with my uncle.

    “The article, which will be published under the “YouWiN! Connect Academy” section, also shared vital success and motivational  tips for entrepreneurs who are starting small.

    “Finance Minsiter, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, commended Dangote and described his interest and involvement in the enterprise education initiative of the ministry as “a watershed moment” for the programme.

    She said: “There’s no better way to help entrepreneurs succeed than to have icons like Dangote share their personal success stories with them through an increasingly valuable platform like YouWiN! Connect. This is why the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration reaffirmed its commitment to the project in its enhanced form.”

    She urged other successful entrepreneurs to follow Dangote’s example.

  • Dangote’s life is inspiration to many, says Tinubu

    Dangote’s life is inspiration to many, says Tinubu

    Former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu yesterday congratulated astute businessman and philantrophist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, descibing him as an inspiration to many people.

    In a letter to Dangote personally signed by him on the anniversary of his 60th birthday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart commended the industrialist for his boldness and bravery in taking the business risks he took, which he said have now paid off.

    According to Tinubu, Dangote has broken all business barriers and now helping to industrialise Africa, with the operations of his Dangote Group in 17 African countries and beyond.

    In his letter dated yesterday and released in a statement by his Media Office, Tinubu said: “Dear Alhaji Dangote, my family and I congratulate you on your 60th birthday. Your life has been an inspiration to many. From a lowly background, you rose to the top by dint of hard work and perseverance.

    “The boldness and bravery you demonstrated in taking the business risks you took have paid off.  You have shown that with resilience, we can always convert risks and challenges to opportunities.

    “Today, you are that African man that has broken all barriers. With operations in over 17 African countries including Nigeria, the awesome Dangote Group you established is helping to industrialise Africa.

    “You have made people and made lives a lot better through the employment opportunities you have created and your other humanitarian activities.

    “I wish you many more years in life. I pray that Allah grants all you need to continue to impact the lives of many more people.”

  • President extols Dangote’s enterpreneurship virtues

    President extols Dangote’s enterpreneurship virtues

    •Businessman restates faith in economic potentials 

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday hailed the entrepreneurial acumen of businessman Aliko Dangote, who clocks 60 today, even as the President of Dangote Group stated that his faith in Nigeria’s economic potential remained unshaken.

    Felicitating with the Forbes’-rated Africa’s richest man, business mogul and philanthropist, Buhari hailed Dangote’s patriotism and kind-heartedness as well as contributions to safeguarding the health of the nation, especially in polio and Ebola interventions.

    In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President joined the business world, Dangote’s friends and family, in congratulating the celebrator.

    According to him, the global business mogul remains a shining example of the virtues of choosing entrepreneurship from an early age, treading the path of diligence, perseverance and continuous learning to build some of the world’s largest manufacturing and distribution companies, with household names in Nigeria and beyond.

    The statement reads: “As Dangote clocks 60, President Buhari commended the humility, simplicity and cosmopolitan outlook of the entrepreneur who defies ethnic and religious persuasions in extending support to the poor and vulnerable, providing employment opportunities without discrimination, while inspiring and mentoring young Nigerians to greatness.

    “The President acknowledged Dangote’s role in bolstering the economy through continuous engagement and counseling of governments on best practices in promoting the ease of doing business.

    “He prayed that the almighty God will grant Dangote more wisdom, good health and longer life to serve his country and humanity.”

    Speaking with a group of businessmen in his office at the weekend, Dangote said his passion of the nation’s economy has been the impetus underlining his investment decisions.

    “Nigeria is the world’s best kept secret”, he told his guests.

    Dangote’s birthday will today be commemorated with the planting of sixty trees at the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) site of his proposed world-class Refinery and Petrochemical company.

  • Buhari hails Dangote at 60

    Buhari hails Dangote at 60

    President Muhammadu Buhari has felicitated with Africa’s renowned businessman and philanthropist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, on his 60th birthday.
    Buhari, in a statement by the Special Adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, joined the business world, Dangote’s friends and family in congratulating Forbes’ rated richest African and black man for his patriotism and kind heartedness in always making sacrifices to safeguard the health of the nation, most remarkably the polio and Ebola interventions.
    He believed the global business mogul remains a shining example of the virtues of choosing entrepreneurship from an early age, treading the path of diligence, perseverance and continuous learning to build some of the world’s largest manufacturing and distribution companies, with household names in Nigeria and beyond.
    As Dangote clocks 60, President Buhari commended the humility, simplicity and cosmopolitan outlook of the entrepreneur who defies ethnic and religious persuasions in extending support to the poor and vulnerable, providing employment opportunities without discrimination, while inspiring and mentoring young Nigerians to greatness.
    The President acknowledged Dangote’s role in bolstering the economy through continuous engagement and counseling of governments on best practices in promoting the ease of doing business.
    He prayed that the almighty God will grant Dangote more wisdom, good health and longer life to serve his country and humanity.

  • Nigeria without Dangote?

    LISTENING to Alhaji Aliko Dangote speak at a colloquium held penultimate Tuesday in Lagos to mark Asiwaju’s 65th birthday, one could again not help feeling the magnitude of the Nigerian tragedy inflicted by leadership deficit.

    He did not feature in the original programme. But who is better qualified to speak authoritatively at a ceremony where entrepreneurship is broached than someone who started humbly as a merchant in his native Kano with loan from an uncle as capital and, forty years later, is now rated the richest black man on earth?

    Though impromptu, Dangote spoke with the depth and clarity of a professor. His facility with statistics is remarkable indeed. His prescriptions: entrepreneurs in Nigeria will do better with stable power supply on the one hand, and policy consistency/coherence on the other.

    A doer himself, he has walked the talk in the cement sector. From being world’s second biggest importer of cement a decade ago, Dangote has helped his fatherland achieve not just self-sufficiency in the commodity but also pushed her to becoming a big cement exporter, thereby earning the much needed forex.

    Obviously a pathfinder, Dangote has since shifted his luminous lights towards crude refining. Denied in 2007 the custody of Port Harcourt Refinery he earlier acquired with his friend, Femi Otedola, through privatization, Dangote thereafter chose a more tortuous path to make the loudest statement.

    He is currently building from the scratch a brand refinery already rated Africa’s biggest with the capacity to refine a whopping 650,000 bpd and the largest single train of its kind in the world. (The combined capacity of all Nigeria’s refineries is less than 450,000 bpd with actual utilization today less than a miserly 10 percent, despite billions of dollars splurged on them over the years in the name of Turn-And-Maintenance.)

    To pull this through, he has had to substantially tap international lenders to raise a colossal $12b for the project. The good news is that, just as we no longer waste forex on cement import, Dangote Refinery located in swampy Lekki, Lagos will, beginning from 2019, ensure that Nigeria no longer wastes forex on importation of petrol, diesel and kerosene, thereby helping to conserving at least $10b yearly.

    That way, Dangote would, at least, have helped end Nigeria’s shame by lifting the old curse of “a nation importing what it already has”. The emerging Dangote Refinery will not only save Nigeria N10b annually, it will also create 250,000 fresh jobs for Nigerians. Already, fables and gossips are fast mushrooming around the gargantuan plant currently under construction day and night. The most widespread being that it occupies a land mass (2,200 hectares) that is six times the size of the upscale Victoria Island in Lagos.

    However, my own take-away is different. To power the humongous plant, Dangote has had to build an independent power plant, just like he did for the Cement factory in Obajana, Kogi State. From records now made public, it costs him an average of $400,000 to build one mega watt. But wait for the figure often quoted by the Federal Government for the same item – $2m! What makes it doubly tragic is that with $400,000, Dangote delivers mega watt that brings real electricity. Nigeria squanders $2m to generate pitch darkness.

    Under Obasanjo, not less than $16b, according to House of Reps reports in 2008, was spent on power projects. A decade later, that colossal expenditure has not translated to a marked improvement in energy generation. Fifty-six years after independence, power generation still oscillates around 4,000. Back in the 70s, a national committee chaired by Chief Olu Falae had projected the nation’s energy need to be 10,000 mega watts by 2000. Sadly, with a population of less than 100m in 1988, official records indicated NEPA’s generation capacity was 4,000 mega watts. When Obasanjo left office ten years ago, power generation had fallen to 3,000 mega watts.

    Ten years later, and with population now around 180 million, we are back to generating 4,000 mega watts. However, with $16b, Dangote would have produced mega watts in excess of 6,000. Is anyone still wondering why Nigeria remains poor infra-structurally today despite hundreds of billions of dollars received through oil sale and squandered in the last fifty years.

    On the mega watt alone, Aliko has, perhaps unwittingly, exposed Nigeria’s culture of waste and systemic theft. Entrepreneurs with depth and creativity like Aliko and Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr are few. Theirs is real production and wealth-creation ultimately, not rent-seeking.

    In their daily grind of turning raw materials to finished good, they send a clear message that the country has no business with poverty; that much more could be attained with far less.

    Indeed, if any progress has been made in the national economy at all in the last decade, the credit substantially belongs to the patriotic tenacity of a few like them. All said, the new Lagos Refinery is a monument to vision, courage and tenacity of one man – Aliko, whose 60th birthday is, by the way, next Monday.

    There can’t be a better time to salute a Nigerian patriot, a truly deserving Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).