Africa-Press – Ethiopia. Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, who has sealed a 2.5 billion USD partnership with the Ethiopian government to build one of the world’s largest fertilizer plants, hailed Ethiopia as a key hub for fertilizer investment.
In the Presence of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopian Investment Holdings and Dangote Industries Limited have signed a Fertilizer Complex Shareholder Investment Agreement.
“The nature of the investment here is to produce urea, about 3 million metric tons annually, a major milestone to produce right from zero to 3 million tons, which is by far, much more than what Ethiopia is consuming today. It’s a very huge, gigantic project,” Dangote said.
He added As we speak today, 3 million metric tons fertilizer is equivalent to in Nigeria, which is actually the second largest urea plant in the world.
“So we deliver it within three years. Ethiopia is a very good destination. Ethiopia has the raw material. The raw material of producing urea is natural gas. And if you don’t utilize your raw material, you end up buying, you know, urea every day, importing, arriving late.”
The billionaire also lauded Ethiopia’s effort under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to revolutionize and expand the agriculture sector.
“His Excellency, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed I think, is a very visionary leader. What he’s doing right now is that he’s going to massively expand, boost agriculture, and make sure that he brings prosperity to Ethiopia,” he underscored.
According to him, his company is going to do all the range of fertilizers in Ethiopia.
“So Ethiopia will be a net exporter, not an importer anymore.We’re already in cement here, so we’ll make sure that even in cement, we don’t actually race back. We continue to expand, and we are looking at opportunities for gold, and these are new businesses to us.”
He added Ethiopia is really opening up for business and investment, adding that it is the duty of us Africans to make sure that Ethiopia succeeds.
“Foreigners will not come and develop their economy, but I’m not a foreigner. I’m an African, and the headquarters of the African Union is here. So, Ethiopia is really African, and that’s why I feel obliged to come and contribute my own quota to the growth and prosperity of Ethiopia.”
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