Founder and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has alleged that powerful foreign interests are actively working against Africa’s economic growth, calling for stronger regional integration and greater commitment from African investors to unlock the continent’s potential.
Dangote made the remarks on Thursday at the Investing in Africa forum, held on the sidelines of the ongoing Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, DC.
Speaking on the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Dangote argued that a single African market cannot succeed unless regional markets are first strengthened and made fully operational.
“The Africa free trade will work, but it can only work when the regional markets work,” he said. “The regional markets must work first because the dotted points of all these regional markets are not working. You cannot have one single market.”
He stressed that structural weaknesses within regional economic blocs continue to hinder seamless trade and economic cooperation across the continent.
Dangote also suggested that international actors have little interest in seeing Africa achieve industrial and economic independence.
READ ALSO: Dangote Refinery slashes petrol price by N75 as global crude oil market cools
“You have to also remember that there are a lot of international interests, I’m sorry to say, in not wanting to see Africa grow,” he stated.
Citing the petroleum sector as an example, the billionaire industrialist lamented the lack of refinery development across Africa, noting that the continent had not seen significant refinery projects in many years.
“Africa has not had any refinery in donkey years. There are so many interests not allowing refinery projects in other countries to happen,” he said, without naming specific countries or entities.
On the question of attracting foreign capital, Dangote said investment decisions are largely influenced by perceptions of risk. He maintained that African investors must take the lead in demonstrating confidence in their own economies.
“Foreigners will invest. But foreigners are also smart people. When you talk about risk, they want to look at it ten times,” he said. “So how can we derisk? The only way to de risk is we Africans must lead and show that that risk is a perceived risk, not a real risk.”
According to him, it would be difficult to persuade international investors to commit capital to Africa if Africans themselves are unwilling to invest locally.
“If I’m not investing in Africa, there is no way I will go and convince anybody outside the continent to come and invest. I must now show that this risk is perceived,” he added.
Dangote further called on affluent Africans to repatriate funds held abroad and channel them into productive investments at home.
“I sometimes say that in terms of cash, there might be some people who have more cash than me, but don’t keep that money in a foreign bank. Bring it back home, invest. The place is good, you’ll make a lot of money,” he said.
He criticised what he described as an overreliance on foreign investors, arguing that such expectations are unrealistic unless there is clear evidence of domestic commitment.
“We have this problem of always looking for foreign investors. Foreign investors will never come because the foreign investor is smarter than us, so they won’t come,” Dangote said. “They can only come when they see that Africans are committed, serious, and we are investing our own money.”
Dangote concluded by noting that no country is entirely free of risk, but success lies in understanding and mitigating those risks effectively.