“How do you have economic growth without power?” -Dangote

President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote said recently at a consultative roundtable session for public and private sector stakeholders organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in Lagos that the poor performance of the country’s power sector was hindering growth of the economy.

According to Dangote, Nigeria had been struggling to increase its electricity output for the past 18 years without success. He urged the Federal Government to improve the sector, saying no business would thrive with business owners generating their own power. He also said: “How do you have economic growth without power? So, no power, no growth because without power there can’t be growth.Egypt increased its electricity by 10 gigawatts, which is equivalent to 10,000 megawatts in 18 months.”

“In Nigeria, we have been struggling for 18 years without adding 1,000 megawatts and we have spent about three times above Egypt, why? So, I think we all need to be concerned about that.”

He also said the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and commercial banks should develop consumer credit products to encourage low-income earners to engage in loan taking.

He also identified a lack of policy implementation as the biggest challenge in the country. Aside from power, Dangote suggested that government should focus more on three areas, including finance, manufacturing and agriculture.

He further urged the government to focus more on the fiscal policies for the country to move to the next level.