Dismantle Trade Barriers to Sustain Growth, Dangote Urges African Countries

Africa’s foremost entrepreneur and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has urged African countries to dismantle all economic barriers hindering free trade among the nations, in order to achieve sustainable growth and development across the continent.

The leading private sector player also expressed the irrevocable commitment of his Pan-African conglomerate, Dangote Industries Limited, to solving some of the economic challenges faced by the African continent and her people. To realise this goal, the organisation has committed over 20 billion dollars on investments, in several key sectors of the African economy.

Aliko Dangote who made this disclosure, said the massive investments were meant to turn around Africa’s economic fortunes, in the quest for sustained economic growth of the continent through free trade and economic integration.

Speaking in Lagos at the launch of a Special publication “The World Ahead 2023” by the renowned media outfit, The Economist, Aliko Dangote, who was represented by the Group Executive Director/Group Chief Risk Officer, Dangote Industries Limited, Dr. Adenike Fajemirokun, noted that the crucial task of building a sustainable future that guarantees equitable growth and prosperity for all, should not be the exclusive role of the public sector alone, but should also involve the private sector.

The statement continued that “Our massive investments of over 20 billion dollars are across key industries, including Energy, Agriculture, and Infrastructure. Our recently commissioned 3Million Metric Tonnes’ Fertiliser Plant, expansion in Cement production, and our soon-to-be commissioned 650,000 barrels per day world’s largest single-train Refinery, are all set to empower farmers, foster backward integration, create thousands of jobs, eliminate our dependence on imported products, and improve our nation’s foreign exchange earnings significantly”.

“The multilayered issues that we face globally and across regions today, ranging from rising energy costs, food insecurity, supply-chain disruptions, access to quality healthcare, cyber security, inflation, amongst others, that are brought about by the pandemic or other human factors like the Russia-Ukraine war, call for an objective rethink of geopolitics and geo-economics, especially as they vastly affect policy execution and the ease of doing business in more vulnerable economies,” he stated.

Drawing the attention of the international audience to the need for all hands to be on deck towards lifting Africa above the various socio-economic challenges facing the member-countries, Dangote pointed out that the African population has been growing exponentially. “To secure the future of our country and our continent, we must forge strong public-private partnerships and dismantle regional barriers with vehicles like the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).”

Dangote advised that “Going forward, whether at global or regional levels, in emerging markets or in OECD countries, must be refocused towards exploring the specifics of our fast-changing world, in order to align public-private perspectives and identify areas for collaboration, for the collective good of people, planet and profit.”

He commended ‘The Economist’ for putting together the publication that was being launched, describing it as a rich body of work that offers useful data for all sectors to draw insights from, and synthesize the same towards arriving at cutting-edge action points.