Dangote: Billionaire without a cause       
Written by Garba Deen Mo-ha-mmed     
Sunday, 09 March 2008 


Alh. Aliko DangoteIf we agree with Forbes Magazine, the American publication that released its list of 1000 richest people in the world for 2007, then Alhaji Aliko Dangote is the richest Nigerian alive, and the seventh richest African. Many Nigerians would raise their eyebrows at this revelation though; they, or come to think of it, we will wonder: "What has happened to the fortunes of Generals T. Y. Danjuma, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Abdul-Salam Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo?" Elsewhere on the Continent, many brothers would blink, trying to locate the places of disgraced former Liberian despot, Charles Taylor and the inheritors of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Sani Abacha and Mobuto Seseseko, who at some point in his long dictatorship in Zaire, was reportedly richer than his diamond and copper-rich country.

Among Nigerian civilians the names of Alhaji Aminu Dantata, Michael Otedola, Femi Fernandez and Alex Ibru are also conspicuously missing. But by far the most conspicuous missing name is that of Chief—or is it Dr.?—Andy Uba. Andy Uba, to those who have just landed from Mars, was former President Obasanjo’s special advisor on domestic affairs. He reportedly declared a frightening 1.6 trillion naira as his net worth in his brief period as the erstwhile governor of Anambra state. So what happened to all those people?

According to the American magazine its, numbers were calculated from the total holdings of individuals in all quoted stocks, and it based its conclusions on snapshots of balance sheets taken on February 9. This could only mean that those who did not make the list either were not rich enough, or that stolen billions didn’t count. You know.

For Dangote to be the only Nigerian on the list means that his billions were considered both adequate enough and ‘pure enough’. For that he deserves to be congratulated. Accordingly Alhaji, please accept my congratulations.

Now then we know who the richest Nigerian is, at least by the reckoning of Forbes Magazine. Say, who is the poorest? Does anybody know?

Here is a simple irony: If you answer "Aliko Dangote" you would not be too far from being correct. This is because Dangote is from the Hausa –Fulani tribe, located mainly in the northern part of Nigeria; and various studies and practical results have shown that Dangote’s people are the country’s poorest. So if you are good with polemics, you could easily defend the choice of Dangote as Nigeria’s poorest man. This is what makes Dangote’s position on Forbes list (334th out of 1000) very interesting.

On the up side, it shows that Dangote’s people need not be poor at all; that they are the poorest in relation to all other parts of the country is not because they lack the capacity to be rich or even to be the best. By whatever means he’s made his fortune, Forbes clearly did not think Dangote stole it. Dangote has also provided some kind of defense to his people against any insinuation that their wretchedness is either genetic, or a course. Please note that ‘some kind of defense’ may not be defense at all. So thank you, Alhaji. Sadly, this may be the only benefit Dangote’s people may derive from their kinsman’s celebrated fabulous fortune.

Experts on poverty have concluded that poverty itself is not a disease, but the symptom of one; they say that the commonest cause of poverty is lack of education.

Again Dangote’s people provide evidence in support of this thesis. Recent statistics released by some local and international agencies show that of the total number of students currently in Nigerian universities, Dangote’s people make up only about 7 per cent even though according to the latest census figures they constitute about 52 per cent of the total population of the country. This is the disturbing aspect of having a Dangote as ‘a brother’. How does he situate his phenomenal success, for instance, in relation to the abject backwardness of his people?

Whereas it is normal for Dangote to relish his privileges, it is less so if he is found to be insensitive to the dangerous paradox he represents. If Dangote is disturbed by the squalor around him, he’s kept that worry very much to himself, as, indeed, he’s successfully kept nearly everything about his private life and thoughts to himself.

There is of course the Dangote Foundation, which is younger than Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s scholarship for indigent students from among Dangote’s own people. But the impact of the Foundation is at best unknown and at worst insignificant in relation to Dangote’s wealth and the volume of the problem at hand. It is also not certain whether the foundation is funded by Dangote or by his companies or both (in identifying its 48 biggest philanthropist, Forbes made this distinction and excluded all charities funded by companies. Dangote did not make that other Forbes’ list even though his people are among the world’s neediest).

Again the foundation is chaired by the emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero. His revered status notwithstanding, the emir is certainly the least qualified for such a task. This certainly raises the question of Dangote’s motive for floating the foundation in the first place.

If Dangote truly intended to help the millions of poor people in Kano alone, not to talk of the other millions in neighbouring states, he is the only person who believes that he could do so through a moribund, backward, oppressive feudal institution as symbolized by the various emirates in the North. Over the years the northern traditional institution has connived with various military and civilian regimes to plunder the resources that had accrued to the region.

The result is the sorry situation that the region now finds itself in: the most impoverished, least educated and least competitive in comparison to all other parts of the country. To establish a foundation and place it under the supervision of such people is dubious, to say the least. Rather, Dangote would have served humanity better if he simply pays the Great One tax of Zakkat as and when due and disband his and Bayero’s foundation.

Again until quite recently, Dangote’s investments have been largely in the areas of commodity trading rather than in the more solid areas of wealth and job creation such as construction and manufacturing; and now that he’s venturing into those areas, many people from his home state of Kano grumble that he creates by far greater employment opportunities in the southern part of the country than amongst the desperate people of his constituency. By contrast a Chinese consortium running a shoemaking factory in Jogana, near Kano provides employment for nearly a million people, most of them from Dangote’s Kano state. Another proof that given the opportunity Dangote’s people, like Dangote himself, can help themselves.

Lastly, there is Dangote’s disastrous foray into political cronyism under the guise of national service, and his curios association with a very dubious former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Some people even suggest that Dangote is in fact a convenient front for the former president.

Interestingly, Dangote has never really denied those insinuations, and the more dirty revelations about Obasanjo’s shady deals that emerge, the more tainted the reputation of his associates and cronies become, Dangote very prominent among them.

Still, everything being equal, as the American would say, it is better to be a rich bastard than a poor bastard. In which case it is better to have the Dangotes in your backyard, than to read only about them in the media. So once again, congratulations to Nigeria’s richest man, courtesy, Forbes magazine. Long live dole. Long live begging.


http://dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4191&Itemid=1

interesting

while i understand the premise of ur article, i have to say i find it deeply flawed and very troubling indeed.

not only is classifying hausa- fulani as 'his people' wrong - because obviously we are all nigerians and Dangote should certainly not limit business opportunities to 'his people' alone, i fail to see how Dangote should be responsible for educating or creating jobs for people simply because he is from a certain ethnicity. i think ur article reflects your image of hausa people as a bunch of very backward illiterates hence Dangote should never have dared achieve anything for himself since 'his people' are still living in poverty. i also think ur article also explains why Dangote actually bases his companies in the south, perhaps because there is a bigger better educated workforce there.

Also your 'facts' are wrong. There is no company in or near Kano that employs close to a million workers, certainly not a shoe company. As of 2006, kano population was put at 9,383,682, there is no way that taking into account that over half the population of nigeria is between the ages of 0-18yrs, that at least 1 in 9 people work at this chinese shoe factory. You're saying over 10% of people in Kano are cobblers? i think we all know that is not true. simple as.

You also claim that only 7% of all Nigerian university students are hausa-fulani. Does this even warrant a response? Were your statistics based on those taken in the 1970s? or by hausa- fulani are you interpreting culture in a very narrow sense? (i.e. Yoruba, Igbo, Kanuri, Efik, Jukum, Ijaw, Mumuye - i can't mention all. We have over 200 as you know) because if that is the case then I'm left to point out that the total population of the hausa fulani people in nigeria is less than 29% of the total population (at most) of the country. factor in the illiteracy rate and the fact that not everyone in nigeria actually goes to university then according to this analysis about a quarter (24%) of hausa-fulani are actually in university. This is a subtantial %tage even by foreign standards (just for comparison the UK has about 30%).

Even after taking that into account, i still find this claim very hard to believe. Perhaps you are not aware that every state in Nigeria has a university. Not only that but most northern states also have a federal university, which is of course mostly (primarily) packed with hausa- fulani students (some parts of the north do not have a large hausa-fulani population - the middle belt and even the north-eastern part of the country are not predominantly hausa-fulani). Some of the biggest universities in nigeria are in the north and filled with hausa-fulani students (ABU, BUK, Unimaid, to name but a few).

I also find it hard to believe that Dangote somehow made the bulk of his money through his association with OBJ. Anyone who knows his company history knows that like Rome, the empire was not built in a day (or even 8 yrs of embezzlement). Do your research.

Another important thing to remember is that charity is not by force. If you are annoyed (like i am and i'm sure most right thinking northern Nigerians) about the high level of illiteracy, then it is time we start putting pressure on our respective governments to do something about it. We cannot blame people just because they have risen above the rot and made a huge success of their companies. Even if Dangote could employ more, he is certainly under no obligation to do so. (I am curious as to how many are under your employ at the moment ??)

Also, i will add very briefly that the chairmanship of a charity foundation is not necessarily a running around position or one that warrants work experience. It can be like a university 'chancellor' position. Whoever is there helps bring respect and recognition to the foundation not by working hard but by name recognition. There are other people who do the running around and pull the ropes. Ado Bayero is probably the best known, most respected and wealthiest of rulers if not in nigeria then certainly in northern nigeria. He has that vavavoom about him.

RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. COME BACK WHEN YOU GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT.

Take care.

zillaxy:

while i understand the premise of your article, i have to say i find it deeply flawed and very troubling indeed.

i think your article reflects your image of hausa people as a bunch of very backward illiterates

hate can only pointed toward evil.

MC Usman:


hate can only pointed toward evil.

hmm? what do you mean
(i'm fulani myself and don't hate my people if thats what you meant)

Did germannig write the article?? Garba Deen Mo-ha-mmed did ! i hope i am making sense?? i think the article was copied from that link :

http://dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4191&Itemid=1

At least Dangote has employed some people, wht has Mr garuba done than criticise , i believe they are age mates, hw many people has mr Garuba employed in his life, We all need to aspire to be like Mr dangote and build firms that employ other than sit down with our day job and criticize .

I don't know Dangote, his businesses and all that--- do not care to know him--- I just hate the thought of depending on some man to act as saviour for you when you are not disabled!!!!!!

hmm Naawa o. this article just shows the simple truth about most humans. no matter what u do (Success or otherwise) u will most likely incure the wrath of certain pple.

Warren Buffet was not recorded as the richest man in usa or in the world rather he was recognised by the same forbes as the highest individual donor in the history of man.
dangote is rich and i believe many nigerians are richer than him but to them the fear of efcc has become the begining of wisdom.
the truth of the matter is, no matter how we struggle, all of can never be rich or even when we are, all fingers can never be equal. even those of us here, how many people have we been able to help with our own little position? most of us are waiting to be dangote before they can help but we must accept the fact that if we cannot help with the little we have, there is not faith in our hands even when we become Bill Gate.
giving is a thing worth doing and africans must learn to give.
dangote must understand that to whom much is giving, much is expected. if he had been giving 10% before, his new position shld make him give 20%.
to us, there is nothing we have that we did not recieve so giving means giving back part of what we recieved.

The bottom line is we own our society to duty of giving something back.

stillwater:

I don't know Dangote, his businesses and all that--- do not care to know him--- I just hate the thought of depending on some man to act as saviour for you when you are not disabled!!!!!!

dont realli know much about dangote apart from hearsay n that but dangote owes it as a duty to give back to his people and even nigerians at large if a white man like bill gates can do so much for africa and ppl like the late princess diana,prince harry amongst several eminent ppl abroad then its an indictment on him being on forbes list and his ppl dyeing of hunger and lack of education,they r not dis abled and most nigerians including ppl from his part of the country are hard working but they need help where he can come in like education

lucabrasi:

dont realli know much about dangote apart from hearsay n that but dangote owes it as a duty to give back to his people and even nigerians at large if a white man like bill gates can do so much for africa and ppl like the late princess diana,prince harry amongst several eminent ppl abroad then its an indictment on him being on forbes list and his ppl dyeing of hunger and lack of education,they r not dis abled and most nigerians including ppl from his part of the country are hard working but they need help where he can come in like education

You don't expect those who arrived at wealth by the grace of kleptomaniacs in government to do anything reasonable with the money.

Very interesting story, I hope this info gets to him.
May be this is the right time for him to show us something, just like other incredible rich Nigerians.

It is always more productive when "you give and you take"

zomby:

Very interesting story, I hope this information gets to him.
May be this is the right time for him to show us something, just like other incredible rich Nigerians.

It is always more productive when "you give and you take"

halleluyah,so u agree that dangote isnt the mesiah after all

If you relax a bit, it will become clear to you that we are saying the same thing from the get-go.
The idea of calling anybody thief just because they are rich is ridiculous.  And this happens to be very common among Nigerians, especially the ones away from home.
I see this action as pure hating on your fellow Nigerians.
Just because couple of rich Nigerians you know stole from the government doesn't mean all wealthy Nigerians did the same.
Stereotyping is a brain disease, that is mostly common among hopeless lowlifes.

dangote is rich and i believe many nigerians are richer than him but to them the fear of efcc has become the begining of wisdom.

G B A M ! Thats right, there are many richer than Dangote. 

Mollam Hayatudeen
Obsanjo
Abacha
Babangida,  and etc,

Them just dey fear to really declare thier wealth because most of it is STOLEN.

zomby:

If you relax a bit, it will become clear to you that we are saying the same thing from the get-go.
The idea of calling anybody thief just because they are rich is ridiculous. And this happens to be very common among Nigerians, especially the ones away from home.
I see this action as pure hating on your fellow Nigerians.
Just because couple of rich Nigerians you know stole from the government doesn't mean all wealthy Nigerians did the same.
Stereotyping is a brain disease, that is mostly common among hopeless lowlifes.

we are not and have never said the same thing,pat utomi is not a thief buch is mega rich,gani fawehinmi is a multi millionaire and not a thief gamaliel onasodeprof sam aluko e.t.c are all rich but not thieves so get your facts right.

dangote,femi otedola and their ilks are thieves simply because numerous evidences point to that fact.
these are not hidden evidences but what everyone in nigeria can attest to.
go on( diy.com)which is the main building store in the united kingdom and compare the price of a bag of cement to what dangote sells for,this is not even talking about sugar,salt,flour,fertilizer.
check all of otedola's holdings and compare the price of a litre of petrol,kerosene,diesel with what is obtained here,you need to do some research,read and dont swallow empirical facts hook line and sinker,this poster has posed some pointers which you should deliberate upon.

while stereotyping is a brain desease,crass,blind and rudderless sycophancy and panegyrics, especially in the face of hard facts can be excused in children,it can be salvaged in sane objective ignorant adults but certainly has no objective or justifiable reason concerning an alledgedly sane educated albeit half educated but certainly an intellectual and mental pygmy

lucabrasi:

we are not and have never said the same thing,pat utomi is not a thief buch is mega rich,gani fawehinmi is a multi millionaire and not a thief gamaliel onasodeprof sam aluko e.t.c are all rich but not thieves so get your facts right.

dangote,femi otedola and their ilks are thieves simply because numerous evidences point to that fact.
these are not hidden evidences but what everyone in nigeria can attest to.
go on( diy.com)which is the  main building store in the united kingdom and compare the price of a bag of cement to what dangote sells for,this is not even talking about sugar,salt,flour,fertilizer.
check all of otedola's holdings and compare the price of a litre of petrol,kerosene,diesel with what is obtained here,you need to do some research,read and dont swallow empirical facts hook line and sinker,this poster has posed some pointers which you should deliberate upon.

while stereotyping is a brain desease,crass,blind and rudderless sycophancy and panegyrics, especially in the face of hard facts can be excused in children,it can be salvaged in sane objective ignorant adults but certainly has no objective or justifiable reason concerning an alledgedly sane educated albeit half educated but certainly an intellectual and mental pygmy

double speaking

The shocking thing to me is how many Nigerian semi-sane people just don't get it. Stereotyping or boxing all wealthy Nigerians into one box can not be justified for any cause whatsoever.

Do we have wealthy criminals in Nigeria? Yes, without any question.
But if this is the case, instead of stereotyping or looking for a side-kick to provide you with the substance you're obviously lacking, why don't you present your case by identifying these criminals with evidences, and educate the rest of us?

By the way, RichBlack: I'm too blessed to be a sycophant of any kind or to any-one. Therefore, find a better term to label me.

zomby:

The shocking thing to me is how many Nigerian semi-sane people just don't get it. Stereotyping or boxing all wealthy Nigerians into one box can not be justified for any cause whatsoever.

Do we have wealthy criminals in Nigeria? Yes, without any question.
But if this is the case, instead of stereotyping or looking for a side-kick to provide you with the substance you're obviously lacking, why don't you present your case by identifying these criminals with evidences, and educate the rest of us?

By the way, RichBlack: I'm too blessed to be a sycophant of any kind or to any-one. Therefore, find a better term to label me.

Evidence? What kind of evidence do you want us to present? Scanned documents of illegal transactions, email exchanges talking about shady deals, audio file of incriminating telephone conversations? What type of evidence are you seeking?

_{As an aside, "evidence" is not a countable noun, so the use of the word "evidences" is grammatically incorrect, though it can be used in a poetic sense. "Pieces of evidence" is more appropriate in prose. No disrespect, just correcting a fellow Nigerian.}

Our moderator is now changing to an English professor. I did not know that I was being tagged for grammatical errors, next time I will be more careful.
It will also be nice if RichyBlack alias Joe Lasisi can first go through all his posts and correct himself before pointing fingers at others.
You're a joke, partner.
You need not to be fired, you should just be kind to the populace and step down.

zomby:

Our moderator is now changing to an English professor. I did not know that I was being tagged for grammatical errors, next time I will be more careful.
It will also be nice if RichyBlack alias Joe Lasisi can first go through all his posts and correct himself before pointing fingers at others.
You're a joke, partner.
You need not to be fired, you should just be kind to the population and step down.

@zomby

Why are you offended at my correction of your poor grammar? Did I make fun of you? Of course we all make mistakes, and there is nothing wrong in learning from someone. You're taking something I mentioned as an aside this seriously? Even though I clearly stated that I meant no disrespect? Why are you being so defensive about my correcting you?

Na wa for this zombie o.