Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has give assurance that in spite the recession currently plaguing the nation’s economy, he will continue to scale up the value of his investments in Nigeria and Africa at large.
Dangote, who spoke while receiving the “2016 African Business Leader Award” at the side-line of the United Nations Congress held in New York city, United States said he will not relents in investing in the continent because he believes in Nigeria’s and Africa’s potential.
He said:“We believe that it is only by sustained massive investments in infrastructure across the continent, supported with access to education, that Africa can reach its full potential.”
“Over the next few years, we will be investing nearly $20bn in projects ranging from a petroleum refinery, petrochemicals, fertiliser, gas pipeline, and backward integration in sugar and rice production.”
“These projects will create over 250,000 jobs and provide foreign exchange earnings and savings of $16bn for the country and help diversify our economy. Central to this developmental trajectory is the need for capacity building and ramping up of the quality of skills of a fast growing African workforce.”
“This award will further encourage us to redouble our efforts as we work towards promoting Africa’s economic renaissance. We are grateful to the organisers for recognising our modest efforts to transform Africa”, he stated.
Dangote said he was humbled by the award considering the pedigree of the award which celebrates African achievement at the global stage and promised that he would not be deterred by the current economic challenges in Nigeria but would intensify the expansion of his businesses across Africa.
The business tycoon was named and presented the award at a colourful ceremony alongside other prominent Africans like Stephen Hayes, President and CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), who won the AAI ‘2016 U.S. Business Leader Award’; and Sunil Benimadhu, Executive Director of the Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEM), who won the AAI ‘2016 Distinguished Alumnus Award.’
