Dangote: We'll start selling forex to CBN by 2020
Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:48:am Business
4.2K By sosa hills
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said that his conglomerate would be selling foreign exchange (forex) to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by the year 2020.
Dangote, who is also the richest man in African, said Nigeria's economic problems should not be blamed on low oil price.
Speaking at the Nigeria summit hosted by The Economist, Dangote said his company would generate 12,000 megawatts of electricity for Nigeria by 2018.
"We are looking at a situation that by 2020 we are the one selling forex to CBN. Our projects are mainly import substitution. We are working to be self-sufficient to grow about a million tonnes of rice over the next five years," he said.
The African richest man said "Our gas project would have our gas pipelines on the sea bed. The output should be able to provide about 12,000MW power. We see a lot of transformation when we are done with most of our projects by 2018.
"We have 15 countries in the ECOWAS community that is duty-free. Export market is big and profitable if you have capacity. Players in the manufacturing sector should be encouraged to export if they have the capacity. We must also meet local consumption."
He however called on policy makers not to forget diversification of the economy, even when oil bounces back to the $80 region.
"Diversification of the economy should be given priority, if we do not do it now, maybe we never will. People sometimes underestimate the economy of Nigeria by simply looking at the FX situation.
"Lower oil prices do not spell doom. In 1998 oil price fell to $9. There are opportunities in every crisis' situation. Once oil gets back to $80, we forget about diversifying the economy. Now is the time to diversify the economy," he said.
Recently, Dangote Cement Plc announced the commencement of construction of new cement plants in two communities in the country. The new plants are expected to add 9 million metric tonnes per annum to the company's current local cement output of 29.25 million metric tonnes, bringing it to a total of 38.25 million metric tonnes per annum.
Dangote, who is also the richest man in African, said Nigeria's economic problems should not be blamed on low oil price.
Speaking at the Nigeria summit hosted by The Economist, Dangote said his company would generate 12,000 megawatts of electricity for Nigeria by 2018.
"We are looking at a situation that by 2020 we are the one selling forex to CBN. Our projects are mainly import substitution. We are working to be self-sufficient to grow about a million tonnes of rice over the next five years," he said.
The African richest man said "Our gas project would have our gas pipelines on the sea bed. The output should be able to provide about 12,000MW power. We see a lot of transformation when we are done with most of our projects by 2018.
"We have 15 countries in the ECOWAS community that is duty-free. Export market is big and profitable if you have capacity. Players in the manufacturing sector should be encouraged to export if they have the capacity. We must also meet local consumption."
He however called on policy makers not to forget diversification of the economy, even when oil bounces back to the $80 region.
"Diversification of the economy should be given priority, if we do not do it now, maybe we never will. People sometimes underestimate the economy of Nigeria by simply looking at the FX situation.
"Lower oil prices do not spell doom. In 1998 oil price fell to $9. There are opportunities in every crisis' situation. Once oil gets back to $80, we forget about diversifying the economy. Now is the time to diversify the economy," he said.
Recently, Dangote Cement Plc announced the commencement of construction of new cement plants in two communities in the country. The new plants are expected to add 9 million metric tonnes per annum to the company's current local cement output of 29.25 million metric tonnes, bringing it to a total of 38.25 million metric tonnes per annum.
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