Business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has said that his achievements as the richest man in Africa and 25th richest man on earth was attributable to the favourable policies of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Dangote made this known on Thursday night in Nairobi when President Goodluck Jonathan met with the Nigerian community in Kenya.
The meeting was part of the activities lined-up for the three-day visit of President Jonathan to Kenya, which began on Thursday.
Dangote, who was on the entourage of the President to Kenya, told the gathering that Jonathan had done a lot to improve business climate in Nigeria.
He said: “I want to tell you what the President has been doing in Nigeria.
“He is very humble and may not want to sing about what he has been doing.
“I will tell you what he has been doing to Nigerians and to some of us who are in business in Nigeria.
“We are very grateful for some of the policies he has introduced.
“As you all know, without the good policies of government, there is no way a person like me from the big town like Kano can rise from a humble beginning to become the 25th richest person on earth.
“Without the policies of Mr. President and also making sure that yes, there is consistency in the policies of government, this could not have happened.
“If Government has bad policies, the whole economy will crumble and if they have good policies, people will be able to prosper and that is what it is now.
“Today, the company that we started, which was worth not more than $four million, by the Grace of the Almighty and through the good policies of our government, this same company of ours is now worth $21 billion.
“In December 2003, our production of cement was 1.8 million tonnes, but today in Nigeria, we are producing 28.5 million tonnes and by next year, we are going to have 39 million tonnes.
“You can actually see the massive work and dramatic turn of event.”
Dangote also attributed his success story to the reforms carried out by the Federal Government in the banking sector.
He said the reforms had made it possible for Nigerian banks to be stable and strong and for investors to access huge funds locally at reasonable interest rates to implement projects.
He said: “Mr. President has helped quite a lot because usually, businessmen in Africa always rely on foreign banks.
“Foreign banks are good, but they will not understand the local issues and problems and the only way out is to strengthen the local banks and that is what his Excellency did.
“Apart from having the banks re-capitalised, when there were issues in the banks, Mr. President came in and empowered the banks by making sure he saved them from collapsing and we now have very strong banks.
“Out of the $3.3 billion that we raised, over 90 per cent of the money was raised from Nigerian banks and some of them at low rates.
“It is from the banks’ dollar reserves that they gave us $2.8 billion out of the $3.3 billion at six per cent interest rate.
“Really, Mr President, you have done quite a lot because, before now, I remembered when we built the cement plant that we are talking about, at a point, we actually borrowed money and we were paying 42 per cent interest rate.
“From 2004 to 2006, by the time we finished the factory, on interest rate alone, we paid $210 million.
“So this is something that this government has done, which really we need to come out and tell the people that this is what our government is doing.”
As a result of the success story in cement, Dangite said the President also approved some backward integration policies for Sugar, rice, cassava and palm oil.
He said his conglomerate is investing $2 billion in sugar manufacturing in the country, which will generate about 750,000 jobs.
Dangote said the investment will also see an end to the over 1.8 million tonnes of raw sugar being imported into the country annually.
He disclosed that his group had offered the plum job of setting up and managing the sugar production company to an expert, who was lured from the biggest sugar manufacturing company in the East Africa, Ilobo Group.
He said: “Ilobo, which is the biggest group of companies and major sugar producer, is owned by Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.
“But because of the new policy of government on backward integration for sugar, we had to offer the Managing Director of Ilobo the appointment and he has resigned from llobo and joined us.
“Based on paper now, not on dividends, the man is the highest paid person in Dangote Group when compared with even myself.
“We did this because of his vast knowledge in the sector and to make sure that we realise our dream for sugar production in Nigeria.”
The business mogul also said that his conglomerate is setting up a $9 billion petrochemical company in Nigeria that will engage 8,000 engineers and more than 9,000 other members of staff.
Dangote said that the President had taken more than 40 per cent of members of the economic team from the private sector.
In reiterating the level of empowerment by the Jonathan Administration, Dangote said he was reliably informed by an aircraft manufacturer that Nigeria is now the second highest private jet market in the world after the US.
He added: “Without empowerment, nobody can afford to go and buy aircraft.
“This is to tell you how well Nigerians are doing.”
Dangote said the Jonathan Administration has also put in place policies of supporting Nigerian companies to invest in other African countries.
He said his conglomerate had invested over $4 billion in building cement factories outside Nigeria with the assistance of the government.
On insecurity in the country, the business mogul noted that government was trying its best possible to address the problem.
He said: “Today, people talk about insecurity in the country.
“Yes, it is true, but there is no country on earth without challenges of insecurity.
“For instance, Brazil has $437 billion in reserve compares to Nigeria with only $47 billion, but today, a person like myself cannot walk around in Brazil.
“There are more kidnappings in Brazil than in Nigeria.
“It is not that government is not doing anything.
“Government is doing a lot.
“For most of the kidnappings that had taken place, the security officials have been able to rescue the victims unhurt.”
Dangote encouraged the gathering to take the opportunity of the favourable policies of government by coming home to invest.
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