By Ochereome Nnanna
FOR sure, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is an extraordinary Nigerian. He is the richest African in recorded modern history. Just about three years ago, he was estimated by Forbes (first time a Nigerian was making it to the charmed circle of 400 richest men in the world) as worth a little over US$3 billion. Dangote disputed the figure, stressing that he was worth over five billion.
In March this year, Forbes upgraded Dangote’s rating to nearly US$14 billion. His business surged 557 per cent within the past one year, thus breasting the tape as the world’s biggest gainer.
Dangote is mainly into sugar, flour and cement. In fact, in those fields of manufacturing and importation, he is a virtual or absolute monopolist. His group controls about one quarter of the value of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE. Dangote is easily the private sector’s largest employer of labour. I don’t know how well he pays his staff, but I hardly hear his labour force going on strike or threatening to do so. Dangote’s wealth is made in Nigeria through mainly manufacturing efforts. He is not like the others who looted government treasuries and hid their monies in foreign banks where they serve the interests of foreign powers at the expense of Nigerians.
While many other indigenous (and even foreign multinationals) have gone under or bolted from the country as a result of the harsh operating climate, Dangote continues to grow from strength to strength. I am sure, every morning, Aliko Dangote wakes up humming TY Bello’s inspiring Nigeria patriotic song: The Land Is Green. This is a man who made his wealth in an environment devoid of public power supply, with roads and infrastructure all but collapsed, little support from the agricultural and mining sectors to feed his factories with raw materials; a man who grew fat in a land that famished his co-travellers.
It was for these and so many other attributes that the President Goodluck Jonathan Federal Government has nominated him for the award of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, GCON, the highest national honour ever bestowed on a “civilian” (non-occupant of governmental office). And so, wherein lies my questions on this award?
Let me clear the air. I am not questioning the award per se. I am only expressing my reservations about the man’s rise to fame and how he has used his wealth to touch the lives of the ordinary Nigerian, or failed to do so. Many will not easily forget that it was while Dangote and others were controlling the affairs of the NSE that many struggling Nigerians lost over three trillion naira of their life’s savings after investing in stocks and shares (some for the first time in their lives).
While paid workers, retirees, traders and pensioners had their investment up in flames after falling prey to the hype to invest in shares, Dangote’s outfits ( which issued Initial Public Offers many times over) came out of that situation launching their president among the richest men in the world. Perhaps you cannot blame Dangote for successfully taking advantage of an opportunity. Still, millions of Nigerians suffered untold hurt and some have gone to their early graves.
Secondly, Dangote is seen as a government-made billionaire. More than any other Nigerian entrepreneur, his group is reputed as having enjoyed generous Federal Government freebies, such as waivers and uncommonly favourable terms that drove co-competitors out of the market. The controlling power Dangote wields over cement, sugar and flour puts Nigerians at the mercy of its pricing mechanism. It required a presidential ultimatum for Dangote to crash the prices of its cement products from N2,500 to N1,500 in May this year, only for the product to skyrocket again to N2,800 in August in parts of the Lagos metropolis.
Quite apart from what is seen as unusual government favouritism to his businesses, Dangote, the multi-billionaire, is not a household name in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR. A man who made almost all his fabulous billions from the Nigerian market is hardly heard of when it comes to giving back to society. On a visit to Jigawa State in 2007, I learnt that for years, Aliko Dangote’s alma mater, Government Secondary School, Birnin Kudu in Jigawa State, was in ruins.
All entreaties on him to help restore it to its old glory, even by traditional rulers, failed. It was not until Governor Sule Lamido went into partnership with some banks that the school was completely rehabilitated.
There is one Nigerian business group that I always hold up as an example for Dangote to emulate: The Globacom Group, with Otunba Mike Adenuga as the Chairman. In March this year when Adenuga was rated by Forbes as the second Nigerian to make its list with a little over US$2 billion (though the group hotly disputed this as a gross under-rating). But Adenuga, through his telecoms giant, is almost everywhere, touching the lives of Nigerians, not just those working in the companies or their shareholders. Globacom has sponsored the Nigerian Football Federation’s activities for many seasons. Many artistes in our highly enterprising film industry (Nollywood), comedians and musicians are making decent living out of Globacom’s generous endowments to the entertainment industry.
In fact, this year, the company surprised my community, Abiriba, by sponsoring our colourful Iri Ama festival, following it up with a gig in which many top musicians featured, a package that cost the company nearly N20 million!
With the little that Globacom is getting (compared to that of Dangote) it is touching the lives of many ordinary people, giving them opportunities to grow. Glo is the only telecoms company that gave out complimentary lines to top performing journalists at very generous discount.
As Alhaji Aliko Dangote (GCON) steps forward to take delivery of the highest honour ever given to a non-governmental functionary, let him reflect on the issues raised and realise that he owes a lot to Nigerians. This country gave him everything he has. He has done excellently with the opportunities he was offered. It is now time to pay back. So much is expected from him in form of Corporate and Personal Social Responsibility.
Bill Gates, his senior on the Forbes list, is currently financing the eradication of polio in Nigeria. He was here in 2001 with his money to tackle the HIV/AIDS scourge. Mo Ibrahim is paying millions of dollars every year to encourage good governance in Africa.
With our second highest national honour proudly dangling from his neck, we want to see Aliko Dangote rolling out his own endowments to give back to a system that gave him what it has denied millions of other Nigerians.
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