- It is no news that he owns the title of being Africa’s richest man, neither is it news of his dream to buy Arsenal Football Club (according to him if he buys Arsenal, Nigeria’s flag will be hoisted on a foreign land).
- What seems to be calling for readers attention is the latest comment passed by the billionaire and foremost industrialist Aliko Dangote over the removal of oil subsidy in the petroleum industry.
- On the expected role of government relating to subsidy, he is of the opinion that government needs to block all loopholes.
If there’s no subsidy, it will affect our foreign exchange, we’ll end up buying a dollar at N500, because there’s no VAT on petroleum products. That’s why the import of petroleum products is taking about 30% of our foreign reserve. We just need to make sure that there’s no siphoning of money. The refining business requires volume. If you don’t have a massive volume, there’s no way you’ll make money.
- Dangote believes most refineries in Africa are running at a big loss,he argues that it is not possible for government officials to succesfully manage oil businesses.
It’s good enough if they remove the subsidy, but you can check with neighbouring countries like Senegal. If a poor person in Senegal can afford to pay subsidy, why can’t a poor person in Nigeria afford to pay. I think there must be something for the masses, which should be in terms of power, social insurance, good education system, good roads etc.
- Source: Vanguard