While speaking at the Africa CEO forum in Abidjan, the President of Dangote
group and Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote said that the problem of electricity is affecting the growth and development of the African Continent. He also disclosed what has made his conglomerate successful.
His words:
“Where I come from, which is Kano in Nigeria, we have over 20 million
people and we are sharing 35 megawatts only,” Dangote said.
“So when we started business as a group, we said that we would not go
into the national grid. Every single country that we are operating in, we
would create, generate our own power and that is why we have been very,
very successful.”
Also the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi
Adesina, said Africa must seek ways to light up the continent.
“If you walk in the dark, you’ll stumble and you will fall. But if you
walk in the light, you will constantly see thing ahead of you,” he said.
“The problem is, in Africa, you have today 645 million people without
electricity. You have the GDP in which the cost of not having electricity is
about four to five percent shaved off.
“We cannot be competitive when it comes to value adding. We cannot
industrialise because we have no electricity. The kids cannot go to school
because we have no electricity.
“Vaccines can’t be in hospitals because we have no electricity, and business
are operating at very high cost, using diesel. In other words, what is the
emergency power supply system has become the normal power supply system
– no way!
“And as Africa Development Bank, I know that the very blood of
Africa’s transmission and life is what we do.”
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