LAGOS\u2014President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said the poor performance of the country\u2019s power sector was hindering growth of the economy.<\/p>\n
Dangote spoke at a consultative roundtable session for public and private sector stakeholders organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in Lagos, weekend.<\/p>\n
[Image: dangote] President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote
\nAccording to Dangote, Nigeria had been struggling to increase its electricity output for the past 18 years without success.<\/p>\n
He urged the Federal Government to improve the sector, saying no business would thrive with business owners generating their own power.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cHow do you have economic growth without power? So, no power, no growth because without power there can\u2019t be growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cEgypt increased its electricity by 10 gigawatts, which is equivalent to 10,000 megawatts in 18 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Nigeria, we have been struggling for 18 years without adding 1,000 megawatts and we have spent about three times above Egypt, why? So, I think we all need to be concerned about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dangote urged government to promote import substitution for foreign exchange accumulation through proceeds from exports.<\/p>\n
He said instead of depending on proceeds from crude oil sales, government should focus on the non-oil sector of the economy, with particular reference to finance, manufacturing and agriculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment needs to encourage non-oil sector growth rather than depending on proceeds from crude oil to pay salaries. Proceeds from crude oil sale should be for major investment in the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The business mogul also said the availability of consumer credit facility was an important option in fighting corruption in the country.<\/p>\n
He said the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and commercial banks should develop consumer credit products to encourage low-income earners to engage in loan taking.<\/p>\n
He also identified a lack of policy implementation as the biggest challenge in the country.<\/p>\n
Aside from power, Dangote suggested that government should focus more on three areas, including finance, manufacturing and agriculture.<\/p>\n
According to him, Asian Tigers concentrated on these three sectors for them to be where they are at present.<\/p>\n
He further urged the government to focus more on the fiscal policies for the country to move to the next level.<\/p>\n
Dangote said by next year, the country would have exported eight million tonnes of cement to African countries from the present six million tonnes.<\/p>\n
He added that Nigeria would also be the biggest exporter of fertilisers in Sub-Sahara Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAGOS\u2014President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said the poor performance of the country\u2019s power sector was hindering growth of the economy. Dangote spoke at a consultative roundtable session for public and private sector stakeholders organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in Lagos, weekend. [Image: dangote] President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":1356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,19],"tags":[541,106,508,701,204],"class_list":["post-11371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-beyond-the-news","tag-beyond-the-news","tag-economy","tag-electricity","tag-fg","tag-government"],"yoast_head":"\n