Aliko
Dangote, president of Dangote group, says his conglomerate should be
selling foreign exchange to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by 2020.
Aliko Dangote
Speaking at The Nigeria Summit hosted by The Economist, president
of Dangote group and billionaire business man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has
said that his conglomerate should be selling foreign exchange to the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by 2020.
The richest African alive also said the problem with Nigeria should
not be blamed on oil, seeing that oil traded at $9 per barrel in 1998,
adding that his company should generate 12,000 megawatts of electricity
for Nigeria by 2018.
"We are looking at a situation that by 2020 we are the one
selling FX to CBN. Our projects are mainly import substitution. We are
working to be self-sufficient to grow about a million tonnes of rice
over the next five years.
"Our gas project would have our gas pipelines on the sea bed.
The output should be able to provide about 12,000MW power. We see a lot
of transformation when we are done with most of our projects by 2018.
"We have 15 countries in the ECOWAS community that is
duty-free. Export market is big and profitable if you have capacity.
Players in the manufacturing should be encouraged to export if they have
the capacity. We must also meet local consumption."
He called on the leaders of the economy not to forget
diversification of the economy even when oil bounces back to the $80
region.
"Diversification of the economy should be given priority, if we
do not do it now, maybe we never will. People sometimes underestimate
the economy of Nigeria by simply looking at the FX situation.
"Lower oil prices does not spell doom. In 1998 oil price fell
to $9. There are opportunities in every ‘crisis’ situation. Once oil
gets back to $80, we forget about diversifying the economy. Now is the
time to diversify the economy."
