The chairman of Dangote Industries Limited and richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote, has announced that he is abandoning his intentions to join Nigeria’s steel sector.
Two months after his company announced that it was planning to engage in the steel industry, he made this announcement.
Speaking to reporters this past weekend at his refinery in Lagos, Dangote stated that the organization’s board had chosen to stay out of the steel sector “to avoid accusations of being branded a monopoly.”
“You know, about doing a new business which we announced, that is, steel. Actually, our board has decided that we shouldn’t do the steel because if we do the steel business, we will be called all sorts of names like monopoly,” he said.
“And then also, imports will be encouraged. So we don’t want to go into that.
“If you look at all our operations at Dangote (Group), we add value; we take local raw materials and turn them into products, and we sell.
“We have never consciously or unconsciously stopped anybody from doing the same business that we are doing.
“When we first came into cement production, it was only Lafarge that was operating here in Nigeria… Nobody ever called Lafarge a monopoly,” he said.
He stated that branding his group of enterprises as monopolistic is disappointing.
“Monopoly is when you stop people, you block them through legal means. No, it is a level playing field whereby whatever Dangote was given in cement, for example, other people were given because some of them even got more than us,” he added.
Dangote urged Nigerians to put money into the sector in order to strengthen the national economy.
“Let other Nigerians go and do it. We are not the only Nigerians here. There are some Nigerians with more cash than us,” the billionaire said.
“They should bring that money from Dubai and other parts of the world and invest in our fatherland”.
A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.
Nnamdi Okoli