Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote has dismissed the claims that his group of companies enjoy monopoly, insisting it is not true.
Dangote stated this on Saturday when he received the leadership of the House of Representatives led by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas and his deputy, Benjamin Kalu.
Africa’s richest man said the labelling of his group of companies as monopolistic is disheartening.
He said his group of companies had never stopped anyone from doing the same business that they are doing.
He said: “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 said, adding that labelling his group of companies as monopolistic is disheartening.
“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 said
No Incentive from FG
Dangote stated that he did not enjoy any incentive from the Nigerian government to build his $20bn refinery sited at the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
“In the refinery, we did not, and I repeat, we did not collect one single incentive from the Federal Government of Nigeria or even Lagos State.
“Yes, the Lagos State gave us a good deal but we paid $100m for the land. It wasn’t free land; we paid for it,” he said.
“Majority of the population are with us. So, we are not discouraged, we will continue what we are doing.”
Dangote further called on the House of Representatives to investigate the quality of diesel and petrol at filling stations, refuting the claims that petroleum products from his refinery are substandard.
Dangote also urged the House to set up a committee to test products at various filling stations across the country, decrying the damage being done to vehicles and engines by substandard products.
