Aliko Dangote, president and chief executive officer of Dangote Group, plans to lift his group’s investment program in Africa to about $70 billion from $50 billion, and is weighing a 10,000-megawatt power-generation drive to tackle the electricity shortages he says are strangling Nigerian industry.
Dangote said the increase falls under the company’s Vision 2030 strategy. The power program, which could include Nigeria, would be separate from the generating capacity the conglomerate is building for its own factories and plants.
“We initially planned to invest $50 billion. We are now looking at increasing that to about $70 billion in Africa,” Dangote said while addressing creative-industry stakeholders from Northern Nigeria, including content creators, journalists, bloggers and Kannywood entertainers.
Dangote said unreliable electricity and inconsistent government policy remain the biggest deterrents to investment on the continent, and argued that African companies should take the lead in fixing the infrastructure gaps that keep other investors away.
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His group, he said, has largely solved the power problem for itself by generating its own electricity.
“Across the group, we currently have almost 1,500 megawatts. By the time we complete Vision 2030, that could rise to between 4,500 and 5,000 megawatts,” he said. That capacity serves the group’s own operations. “Separately, part of the vision is to intervene in power generation with 10,000 megawatts across Africa, potentially including Nigeria.”
Asked which economic decision would do most to improve ordinary Nigerians’ lives, Dangote pointed to electricity. He said small and medium-sized enterprises, which he called the engine of a vibrant economy, cannot make money when they depend on petrol and diesel generators.
He also dismissed the idea that households and companies installing their own solar systems amounts to a solution. “Installing solar power for yourself does not mean the wider problem has been solved.
“Other people may not have that option,” he said. He said large companies like his help sustain smaller businesses, but smaller firms drive much of the economy’s activity.
The comments reflect a long-running grievance among Nigerian manufacturers, many of which run on self-generated power because the national grid cannot supply them reliably. Dangote’s own group has taken that route, and its stated plans would more than triple its captive generation by the end of the decade.
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Dangote said business has a duty to invest and create opportunities, while government should concentrate on setting conditions that let enterprises grow.
“Government’s principal responsibility is to create an enabling environment through good policies. With the right policies, businesses can invest and create jobs,” he said.
He named agriculture and solid minerals as areas of substantial potential, particularly in the north, but said Nigeria must stop exporting raw materials. Investment in infrastructure, including ports, could open markets for other producers and make it easier for them to build and export products, he said.
“It is not only about us; it is about Nigeria and the African continent,” Dangote said. “We should not simply export raw materials and then buy back the processed products at many times the price. That is the pattern we want to change. Without production, we will continue to face economic difficulties. We must build a productive economy.”
Dangote credited the group’s growth to focus, financial discipline and steady reinvestment of earnings.
He said the shift from trading to manufacturing was built around products the company already knew, backed by existing customers, distribution networks and market knowledge.
“The logical next step was backward integration: producing the things we were already importing,” he said.
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He urged entrepreneurs not to spend anticipated profits and to know when a venture no longer works.
“Give it your best effort, but when you do the numbers, and they are not adding up, you must be willing to leave,” he said.
Despite the operating challenges, Dangote said the group will keep investing and encouraged smaller businesses to build around its projects.
“People like us will continue investing. People like you can build businesses around those investments, as suppliers, producers and service providers,” he said.
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