By Adedapo Adesanya
The President and chief executive of Dangote Group, Mr Aliko Dangote, has announced that the company would abandon its plans to enter Nigeria’s steel industry after facing allegations of increased monopoly in Nigeria’s core sectors.
Mr Dangote disclosed this while addressing journalists on Saturday at his refinery in Lagos.
The billionaire businessman explained that the company’s board decided to avoid the steel industry to prevent accusations of attempting to monopolize it
In June, Mr Dangote, Africa’s richest man, set his sights on the Nigerian steel market as a possible venture in the future after successful inputs in food, cement, and energy.
He stated this during an interview at the Afreximbank Afro-Caribbean Trade & Investment Forum in Nassau, The Bahamas.
However, he said “about doing a new business which we announced, that is the steel, 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, and imports will be encouraged. So we don’t want to go into that.”
Despite the local material wealth, 70 per cent of Nigeria’s yearly steel demand of around 10 million metric tonnes is imported.
Nigeria spends around $4 billion on steel imports annually despite having around 74 steel plants and fabricators across the country, according to the Ministry of Steel Development.
Mr Dangote called on other Nigerians to invest in the industry to help boost the country’s economy.
“Let other Nigerians go and do it. We are not the only Nigerians here. There are some Nigerians with more cash than us. They should bring that money from Dubai and other parts of the world and invest in our own fatherland,” the CEO added.
