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Africa's richest man and chairman of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, has pulled the plug on the proposed investment in Nigeria's steel industry.
The business mogul disclosed this while addressing journalists at his refinery in Lagos on Saturday, July 210, 2024.
He said his company has decided to halt the plan to enter the steel industry to prevent accusations of being branded a monopoly.
This comes two months after DIL announced that it was making plans to invest in the steel industry and expand the economy.
Why did Dangote make a sudden change?
Dangote's U-turn is coming a few days after his refinery was accused of trying to monopolise the Nigerian petroleum downstream sector.
In an interview last week, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA) Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, said Dangote has requested the Federal Government stop importing refined petroleum products into Nigeria.
However, Ahmed said the government would not grant such a request which seeks to monopolise the sector because the country can't depend on one refinery to feed itself.
However, Dangote debunked the claim and other similar notions in some quarters suggesting that his conglomerate enjoys a monopoly in Nigeria.
“You know, about doing a new business which we announced, that is, steel. Actually, our board has decided that we shouldn’t do the steel because if we do the steel business, we will be called all sorts of names like monopoly,” the billionaire said.
“And then also, imports will be encouraged. So we don’t want to go into that.
“If you look at all our operations at Dangote (Group), we add value; we take local raw materials and turn them into products, and we sell.
“We have never consciously or unconsciously stopped anybody from doing the same business that we are doing.
“When we first came into cement production, it was only Lafarge that was operating here in Nigeria… Nobody ever called Lafarge a monopoly,” he stated.
Dangote asks other Nigerians to invest in steel
While describing the labelling of his group of companies as monopolistic as disheartening, Dangote urged other Nigerians to invest in the steel industry to help boost the country’s economy.
“Monopoly is when you stop people, you block them through legal means. No, it is a level playing field whereby whatever Dangote was given in cement, for example, other people were given because some of them even got more than us,” he noted.
“Let other Nigerians go and do it. We are not the only Nigerians here. There are some Nigerians with more cash than us,” Dangote said, adding people “should bring that money from Dubai and other parts of the world and invest in our fatherland.”