Unveils plans to invest in dairy business
The Federal Government requires up
to $20 billion in fresh funds to revive
the economy from recession, the
President, Dangote Group, Aliko
Dangote, has said.
According to the businessman, efforts
should be intensified at restoring
investors’ confidence to attract the
needed funds.Dangote is hopeful that
the nation will come out of recession
in the first quarter of 2017 if the
government could get its priorities
right and implement the right policies.
He stressed the need for government
to address foreign exchange challenges
if it wants private sector operators to
increase their stakes in the
diversification agenda. According to
him, diversification from oil cannot be
achieved if there is little or no foreign
exchange available for private sector operators.
Besides, Dangote has unveiled plans to
invest in dairy business to address
dependence on import in the
sector.According to him, 98 per cent of
the country’s demand for dairy
products is being imported, stressing
that plans are on to turn around the
nation’s milk industry over the next
three years.
“We are already discussing with the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to kick-
start this project. We believe we can
do a lot to bridge the importation gap
by developing local production of this
product because we have the
competitive and comparative
advantages.”
He spoke during a courtesy visit by the
Executive MBA students of the Lagos
Business School (LBS) to his refinery in
Lagos.Dangote who expressed
optimism that the country would get
out of the current precarious state,
however, argued that this could only
be achieved if the right support would
be given to the Organised Private
Sector (OPS) through adequate foreign
exchange supply, infrastructural
development as well as consistent and
favourable economic policies.
“Nigeria has what it takes to be great
again. I believe so much in the
Nigerian economy and if the right
things are done, we should get out of
the economic recession by first quarter
in 2017. The private sector is huge and
I think we will get out of the
recession as soon as possible,” he said.
In his presentation tagged the “Role of
business in driving sustainable
development in Africa – The story of
Dangote group,” he said the group had
grown from a commodity trading
company to a more diversified
conglomerate over the last two decades.
The businessman added that the
group’s operation was underpinned by
five key pillars which are to provide
basic needs, substitute imports and
earn foreign exchange from exports,
execute efficiently new plants and technologies, operate effectively by entering new markets with highest
quality products, entering into
strategic partnerships and investing in
human capacity development.
“We are top 10 in Africa and top 400
globally. We are globally competitive,
growing local capacity, manufacturing
quality products, rapidly
transforming from a Nigerian
company to a dominant African brand
and our revenues and profitability
have continued to grow,” he said.
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