The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dangote Group Plc, Aliko Dangote, has called on the federal government to diversify the country’s economy before it becomes too late to meet the country’s consumption demands.
Dangote said this on Wednesday during his speech at the consultative round table on growth organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Abuja as part of the apex bank’s efforts to proffer solutions to the negative impact of coronavirus on the country’s economy.
According to Dangote, “Diversification is not impossible, we need to make sure we make this happen before it gets to a time where even with money, we will not be able to satisfy our demands.”
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He urged the government to diversify the economy through huge financial investments and incentives into the agricultural and the manufacturing sectors of the economy.
Dangote argued that the manufacturing sector created jobs for all classes of people and transformed the economy, adding that the government should place more focus on manufacturing.
Dangote said that to achieve diversification, the government should reduce the cost of doing business in the country as it could affect growth and discourage new startups. He added that three of his companies lost N30 billion to such costs.
He further tasked the government to adopt backward integration or import substitution to achieve diversification of the economy.
The billionaire also said that the government needs to look at infrastructures, especially the power sector, as it would propel SMEs to grow around the country.
He added that large and small businesses needed both low interest loans and long-term funds to service.
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Dangote also pleaded with the CBN to back businesses with foreign exchange.
He said that if the government provides these infrastructures and facilities, businesses have no option than to grow, consequently the whole economy would grow.
Dangote urged the apex bank governor, Godwin Emiefele, to focus on giving forex to those individuals who would import machines used for production, rather than people who import consumables.
He said that the huge revenue of N1.2 trillion as import duty generated by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) is an indication that things are not adequate within the country.
The CEO added that such huge revenue was supposed to be declared by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) if the manufacturing sector was viable enough.
Dangote argued that if the country could manufacture goods worth $30 billion, unemployment rate would fall drastically.
https://www.anaedoonline.com/2020/02/08/make-nnewi-nigerias-manufacturing-hub-kingsley-moghalu-tells-govt/
He however assured that Nigeria would be the highest importer of cement by the end of 2020, which would be a boost to export in the country. He added that with the support of the CBN, his rice plant would produce over 1 million tons of rice by the end of the year.
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