Africa’s richest man and billionaire, Aliko Dangote, has
revealed that unstable electricity supply and inconsistencies in government
policies have remained major problem for industrialisation in Nigeria.
Dangote made this known recently when the Zambian Minister
of Energy, Makozo Chikote, visited the Dangote refinery in Lekki, Lagos State.
According to him, his company’s most profitable cement
factory is the one in Ethiopia because of its stable power supply.
He explained that without power supply, businesses cannot
grow.
“If there’s no power, there won’t be growth. For example,
anything I’m going to do abroad will cost me maybe 30 percent cheaper than
here, because abroad is plug-and-play.
“You just go, no infrastructure construction. You just build
a factory, and you connect to the network; that’s all.
“That’s why, if you look at it today, I tell you that our
most profitable cement factory is in Ethiopia because there’s no investment in
power. They gave us power at the same rate for five years. So, we plan, It’s a
one-price electricity continuously,” he said.
He further explained that inconsistencies in government
policies were another obstacle to industrialisation.
“One of the problems of industrialisation is inconsistencies
in government policies,” he said.