By Dipo Olowookere
Africa’s richest man, Mr Aliko Dangote, has explained one of the main reasons he cannot risk taking a shot at politics.
Mr Dangote, who is very influential in Africa, Nigeria in particular, has over the years stayed away from politics.
Instead, he has remained focused on growing his business, romancing successive governments in power to ensure their policies don’t affect his investments in the country.
By doing this, the 61-year old has been able to get good deals from Nigerian governments, including a recent tax rebate after agreeing to rehabilitate one of the roads leading to his company in Apapa, Lagos.
Speaking with Bloomberg recently, Mr Dangote said it was difficult for him to leave his business aside for politics.
According to him, “If I exit from business and go into politics, nobody can actually sit in Dangote Group and take the kind of risk that I can, because I’m the owner.”
He said further in the interview that, “My real job is to see how do I transform Nigeria and Africa and to take this kind of risk.”
Four of the companies under Dangote Group are listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), contributing a huge size to the market capitalisation of the local bourse.
These firms are Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar, Dangote Flour and NASCON Allied Industries Plc.
The cement arm of Mr Dangote’s business is one of his main sources of revenue and controls a market share of over 65 percent in Nigeria.
The businessman is presently building a vast oil refinery project in Lagos. This project is reported to be gulping $12 billion.
The oil refinery, which is also said to be Africa’s largest, should finally start to dispatch oil from next year.
