\u2022 Gains of Tinubu\u2019s UK visit excite industrialist<\/p>\n
By Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja<\/p>\n
Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has warned of looming global oil shocks that could deepen economic hardship across Africa.<\/p>\n
\u00a0According to him, rising energy costs occasioned by the tension in the Middle East would have a cascading effect on everyday economic activities on the continent if not de-escalated early.<\/p>\n
He raised the concern yesterday after paying a visit to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at his Ikoyi, Lagos residence.<\/p>\n
Dangote also praised Tinubu for unlocking critical investment opportunities and boosting investor confidence in Nigeria during his last week\u2019s state visit to the United Kingdom (U.K).<\/p>\n
The business mogul, who is the promoter of the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, said that higher energy cost would hit\u00a0 \u2018\u2019small businesses and households\u2019\u2019 especially in Africa, the\u00a0 \u2018\u2019hardest,\u2019\u2019 if the\u00a0\u00a0 Middle East tension caused by the United States(US)\/Israel face-off with Iran continued.<\/p>\n
He stressed that Africa, already burdened by heavy debt obligations, is particularly vulnerable to external shocks.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt means quite a lot. We don\u2019t have much to do with it, but the world is a global village, and it definitely will affect us, unfortunately. But we pray this situation will be sorted out; it\u2019s not going to escalate. If it doesn\u2019t de-escalate, we\u2019ll end up paying high prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at it today, Africa is very busy paying debts and putting this again on top of us is going to add a lot of hardship on the government, on the people, on everybody, for something that we have no, really, any involvement in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you talk about energy, energy affects almost everything, and it\u2019s not only energy. Some people will try to take a chance and say this is an opportunity, so let me make money. So if this thing doesn\u2019t de-escalate, it is going to keep going up and up and up, and governments cannot really now go and add salaries. So people will really feel the heat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dangote cited the potential impact of rising oil costs on artisans and small-scale operators who depend on fuel-powered generators for their livelihoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople like barbers, people who are making bread, people who have industries, who have to fire their own generators\u2026 people will feel it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The business mogul also pointed to emerging global responses to energy pressures, including reduced work schedules in some countries, drawing parallels with the COVID-19 era.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see, in some countries today, what they\u2019ve done is ask everybody to work from home because they cannot cope. I think in Indonesia, or so they said, people only go to work four days a week, and they will look at the situation. If it doesn\u2019t improve, they will ask everybody not to go to work anymore. We did that in the time of COVID-19,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n
Dangote, however, expressed hope that the Middle East tension would ease. He called for collective prayers and global efforts to prevent further escalation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all need to pray that this thing de-escalates. If it doesn\u2019t, normally, we in Africa, we don\u2019t have any reserves\u2026 people normally go out and look for money for the next day or even for the same day. If they don\u2019t work that day, they won\u2019t eat. So I think really, we just need all hands on deck to pray that this thing comes to an end,\u201d\u00a0 he said.<\/p>\n
He also explained to reporters that his visit to\u00a0\u00a0 Tinubu was primarily to extend Eid greetings, check on the President\u2019s health and pay his respects.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just came to see His Excellency, Mr President, just wish him Eid Mubarak and also ask after his health. I haven\u2019t seen him for a while, and wish him all the very best and pay my respect. That\u2019s what the visit is all about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On the economic significance of Tinubu\u2019s U.K outing, Dangote described it as a major diplomatic and investment breakthrough, noting that modern diplomacy must be driven by economic interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it has opened ways. Today, diplomacy without the economic part of it is not complete. So I believe his visit will open quite a lot of doors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The business mogul pointed specifically to the \u00a3746 million agreement aimed at improving Nigeria\u2019s infrastructure, especially in the ports sector, describing it as a strong signal of international confidence in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see the agreement that was signed for actually improving our infrastructure, especially in the ports and other areas, which is almost \u00a3746 million, that\u2019s quite a lot. It\u2019s not that easy dealing with the British, getting this kind of money out of them. They, too, are struggling on their own. But I think this is to show confidence. It\u2019s not about the money, it\u2019s about the confidence in Nigeria,\u201d Dangote stated.<\/p>\n
He added that the deal would likely trigger further investments from other countries, positioning Nigeria as an attractive destination for global capital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe moment they do that, there will be other countries that will follow suit. It\u2019s not the \u00a3746 million. We too can do that to any other country and invest. But I think it is something to show an appreciation of Mr President\u2019s good work, the infrastructure he has been building. This will help and complement, but there will be other countries that will come. Germany will come, others\u2026 they will line up and start coming now. This is supposed to be a win-win situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dangote also urged Nigerian investors to leverage the momentum created by the U.K engagement, particularly by accessing international credit facilities that have remained largely untapped.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cFor Nigerian investors, it has shown that we can also go to the same agency and tap the resources. It means that the agency is now open for business for Nigerians, and we will go as private people to look for them to give us support. It\u2019s a credit agency which we haven\u2019t really tapped for a very long time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2019I think with what has happened now, it shows that there is capacity for them to fund some of our projects.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2022 Gains of Tinubu\u2019s UK visit excite industrialist By Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[41616,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-152547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nigeria","8":"tag-aliko-dangote","9":"tag-nigeria"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116289774957529915","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}