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The Dangote Group Wednesday lauded the Nigerian government for providing an enabling environment for investors to thrive through its economic reforms and called on foreign investors to invest in the West African country.
Group Chief Economist at Dangote Group, Hassan Mahmud, made the call on behalf of the company’s chair, Aliko Dangote, on the sidelines of the World Bank/IMF meetings in Bangkok, Thailand.
Mahmud spoke at a Nigerian Investors’ Forum held Wednesday in Bangkok, Thailand’s capital.
Speaking on behalf of the Dangote Group, Mr Mahmoud said the group benefited immensely from the government’s fiscal and monetary reforms, which helped it come out of the woods and stabilise significantly, particularly on the monetary policy front.
“The transparency and the credibility we have seen in that has significantly enabled the Dangote Group to have good projections and was able to come out of the woods from its investment of about $17 billion in the refinery.
“That cannot happen in an economy where there are no consistencies, where there is no credibility of fiscal and monetary policy, and also the incentives that go with operating in an export-free zone.
“So this is a confidence builder for investors that want to come into Nigeria and other African countries. Nigeria is very good, and the terrain is very good. You need to be bold, but the boldness comes with credibility of policy and the regulatory reform we have seen,” he said.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is the world’s largest single-train oil refinery, owned by the Dangote Group. Located in the Lekki Free Zone, Lagos, it was built with a production capacity of 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), with plans to expand to 1.4 million bpd.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery recently launched a public offering to sell 4.1 billion ordinary shares, aiming to raise roughly $1.6 billion to $2.1 billion in what is set to be Africa’s largest-ever share sale.
The Nigerian government introduced foreign exchange market reforms, abolished what it called a wasteful, corruption-ridden subsidy regime amid fiscal pressures, and institutionalised tax reforms.
Although global development and financial institutions have hailed the reforms as positive for the nation’s fiscal health, many Nigerians have expressed frustration over their domestic impact amid skyrocketing energy prices, a high cost of living, and sundry inflationary pressures.
Speaking to the investors present at the Thailand event, Mahmud called for sustained interest in Nigeria.
“Please come into Nigeria, bring your investment. Nigeria is now a symbol to other African countries; we just got into Kenya with a $20 billion investment in another refinery. It’s a model that is coming from Nigeria,” he said.
In his reaction, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said the testimony reflects the impact of the nation’s reforms.
“Dangote Group, thank you for sharing your testimony. I think the best way to demonstrate that we’re indeed ready for business is to have investors who are already with us give their testimonies.”
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