The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has urged African countries to dismantle all economic barriers hindering free trade among the nations, to achieve sustainable growth and development across the continent.
A statement said Dangote who was represented by the Group Executive Director/Group Chief Risk Officer, Dangote Industries Limited, Dr. Adenike Fajemirokun, said this while speaking in Lagos at the launch of a special publication ‘The world ahead 2023’ by The Economist magazine’.
He also expressed his commitment to solving some of the economic challenges faced by the African continent and its people.
Dangote, added that to realise this goal, the organisation had committed over $20bn on investments in several key sectors of the African economy.
He explained that the investments were to turn around Africa’s economic fortunes in the quest for sustained economic growth through free trade and economic integration.
Dangote noted that the crucial task of building a sustainable future that guaranteed equitable growth and prosperity for all should not be the exclusive role of the public sector alone, but should also involve the private sector.
“We have investments of over $20bn across key industries, including energy, agriculture, and infrastructure. Our recently commissioned 3m metric tons fertiliser plant, expansions 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,” he said.
He said that the firm was confronting environmental issues through investment in alternative fuels and also unlocking enormous opportunities in the communities where it had footprints, while ultimately ensuring that it kept delivering huge value to its shareholders.
In his remarks, Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, described the publication as a valuable document for policymakers and strategic planners.
