My apologies then. I think I got a lil carried away.

@uchetobi

Apologies accepted my sister!

We all want what is best for naija, ie an environment where talented people could excel, become billionaires or trillionaires, provide jobs for their less fortunate citizens, and still obey the laws of the land.

even if he is richer than oprah winfrey, how has he affected the common man on the street, look at oprah winfrey giving out laptops what has he given out freelly, even the bonanza you have to buy before you win

Dangote richer than Oprah?

Who dash monkey banana?

I don't think Dangote is aware of how one's worth is computed.

Empty barrels make the most noise.

Richest black person

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_Mohammed-Al-Amoudi_AQ88.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Al_Amoudi

His net worth is $8 billion

Yes he is the richest "recognized" Black man

According to Forbes (2OO7)Oprah is stil the richest black person in the world.She worths over $1b and thats an equivalent amount of over N128b.I think Dangote should be richer than her but the problem here is despite his wealth how many peoples lives has he touched on the street?Oprah has done alot world wide and the funniest thing about them is that they are married.

wether you talk from now till tomorrow or forever, that wont say Dangote wont make more money and stay richer, rating or no rating, we all know he's rich, so if you like, carry his burden on your head, if you like, think about how you be comfortably rich and then can a lesson to others to follow

Yo j-bankz,

And this Man is white? Or is he of Asian Descent?



The Guy has 8 Billion dollars to his, name making him way richer than Oprah Winfrey. The Guy was born in Ethiopia and he has Saudi Arabian and Ethiopian citizenship. He is more Black than that white wannabe known as Oprah.

BTW, Dangote is also richer than her, it's simply a matter of being recognized

i hope nairaland forum members wont criticizes him

If Dangote is richer than Oprah, then Jupiter is bigger than the Sun.

Wow I never knew that Jupiter was bigger than the sun.

lol. then Lagos should be bigger than the continent of Asia lol, Dangote is richer than Oprah when it comes to money, but in helping humanity, i choose otherwise!

Who says Dangote is richer? Jimoh Ibrahim is not absolutely wrong saying Dangote and Otedola are illitrates, ofwhat use is a diploma or degree that has refused to help you on what to say and what not say? Jimoh Ibrahim is absolutely right, what has dangote done for the public? sell shares to them? and you say he has given to the economy? How can a man come to boast of billions when he is owing banks billions of Nairas and Dollars and you say its not illitracy? that they have access to bank loans does not give them the enfontery to come on the front page to yarn dirts, how can he say is his richer than opray? right now Oprah is owing no banks, bill gates is owing no banks, how come the likes of dangote is not among the 100 richest in the world according to forbes who has done lots research into their individual wealths, we have seen oprah contribute and splash millions of dollars on charity and aids because she is debt free and she aint doing charity on over draft. i can tell you that Jk (harry Porters Writter) is even richer than the Dangote who think he is got all.

dblock:

Wow I never knew that Jupiter was bigger than the sun.

@dblock

The Sun is about 1000 times larger (by volume) than Jupiter.

_{Sarcasm may have been at play in your statement}

Multiple Choice Question.

Which of the following is the incorrect statement

(1) Aliko Dangote is Richer than Oprah Winfrey
(2) The Planet Jupiter is larger than the Sun.
(3) Both

You Chose (3) Both.

The correct answer was (2) The Planet Jupiter is larger than the Sun.

Please review you intellectual capability and take the test another time

Itz interesting how lazy Nigerians are, u want to eat off the sweat of another man's hard labour? Do you know that his faith tdoes not permit him to advertise his charity work like Oprah does? Can we seperate Aliko Dangote from dangote Industries? I dont know y we like personalising everything in Nigeria.It is clear from most of the responses that we are envious of successful pple, I happen to know that the coy employs based on merit irrespective of where u come from most of his coys r even in the south so whatz the biff? Nothing stops anyone from cozying up to politicians it is allowed. We should ask ourselves how much we have contributed with the little we have coz if u dont start now u shall never do even when u are richer than Dangote. Leave dangote alone or wld we rather all these coys are owned by whites? Give him a break!!!

una neva stop to discuss this topic e sure say na dangote hold pass. although na politics help am.

Ashiwaju dont u know that itz a wise man who does biz with other pple's money? Thatz y he'll continue being richer than you. Y gamble with ur money when u can gamble with another's?

lol

True talk jare

Really dont think I´m in a good position to crucify this man until I can provide as much jobs he has provided for our fellow Nigerians.
He´s just a young man who has got business initiatives and is strong enough to execute them. He thrives on influences and political favouritism, I´m yet to see a good businessman who wont do that.
Lets forget the beef and think of how we can achieve our dreams too.
Abeg anybody get the man biography or authobiography I go like read.

If Dangote says he's richer than Oprah, my people believe him, it's no booboo.

He has all the banks begging him to give him loans and he knows what to do with the

money to make more money.

He also has top goverment functionaries using him to siphone money,so in a country

where illegality in business is normal, wot do u guys expect.

DANGOTE COULD BE AS RICH AS HE SAYS HE IS. FINITO

Who has any idea what Dangote has done to the price of cement in Nigeria?. . .How can a country with high price of cement licence only 1 individual to import/distribute the product?. . .Do we expect the pricve to come down?

Donzman that is inaccurate - Dangote is not the only importer/distributor of Cement in Nigeria

Lafarge (formerly Elephant Cement) runs 2 plants in Ewekoro & Sagamu in Ogun state

Heidelberg (formerly Cement Company of Northern Nigeria) runs a plant in Sokoto State

numerous others are building plants in Cross River and other locations

both organisations above produce and distribute cement. the government policy enacted in 2001 was that anyone who was not investing in local manufacturing should not be allowed to import cement, and Dangote happened to be one of the few doing such at the time, culminating in his Obajana Plant employing thousands and producing ~5million tonnes/annum of cement, close to 50% of total local production

the high cost of cement is a function of poor distribution network, coupled with gas shortages to the plants producing cement, as well as the fact that local production is not sufficient right now.

by the way Ibeto Cement (or some similar name) has recently been cleared to resume imports of cement through the P/H ports, they claim to be able to drop down cement prices dramatically, lets see what happens.

Yeah right

@Debosky

When you address me, you need to understand that I'm not abroad dreaming about a fantasy Nigeria. For people like us who like to own property, the price of cement has skyrocketed since Dangote's dominance in this sector. Why exactly should I be happy for him when he's using his monopoly power that wasn't acquired based on competitive principles but on frivolous Government regulation?

the high cost of cement is a function of poor distribution network, coupled with gas shortages to the plants producing cement, as well as the fact that local production is not sufficient right now.

Now that you admit that local production IS insufficient, why will the Government in their right sense of mind put up regulations that will limit production instead of trying to improve it?. . .Limiting importation and other frivolous regulations is not in the best interest of the nation but in the best interest of 1 man instead!

By the way, all praises to Yar'adua for reopening the Ibeto Cement plant, the man is 100x the man OBJ is already!

The hypocrisy of the OBJ Government, talking about being capitalist and opening up markets and on the other hand, he places protectionist measures on a key manufacturing product. Why make people face high prices and pay for the inefficiency of the local industry when we can get cement way cheaper and probably higher quality via importation? Don't even talk about jobs, importing industries employ people, they're not a one man operation.

Seems clowns like you only take capitalist stands when it suits you!

Wetin concern Dangote with Charity? Dem be husband and wife?

Anybody of whom we are aware that have to Charity is just a bloody hypocrite using the opportunity of the suffering masses to promote their business.

"Oh look at me, I'm donating $5 billion to HIV and Malaria research."

"look at me everyone, I'm building a school in a highbrow city in South Africa, where I will publicly hand-pick the girls that will be allowed to attend"

"hey look at me y'all, I'm contributing to research on global warming."

it's all crap! Oprah's school is just a charade no different from the chemically induced tears she's been unleashing on her show over the years.

She's not the richest. She should stop promoting an image she doesn't have and will never have. Richest black person, na beans?

Donzman why the personal attack again?

I was simply clearing up a misconception that you had about Dangote's dominance

for all your talk of 'suffering a little now to benefit later' as espoused in our Zimbabwe discussions you seem very eager now to simply throw the market wide open for importation of cement - something even the western countries will not do!

It will benefit ultimately when we domesticate our cement production, and with the current projections, in 09/10, we will be self sufficient in cement production and will be able to export. there is nothing wrong in promoting local production with policies to ensure that we dont remain perpetual traders, but encourage people to put down manufacturing assets - that is not limiting production, as we can see, many new cement plants are coming up because of that same policy, not only Dangote - do your research and you'll see that.

and the local production will produce far more jobs than importation will, and in the long run, our national security and growth will not be ultimately dependent on getting every single thing from overseas.

anyways, to avoid derailing this thread we can discuss that in a new thread if you like.

@Debosky

Go and read about ISI (Import Substitution Industrialization) policies and tell the forum how it has gone. They're not successful, restricting imports and making the market suffer while giving market share to one man will not make Nigeria self sufficient in cement. ISI was popular in the 1960's and failed horribly in Latin America, too bad you're subscribing to an idea from the '60s, not surprised you love OBJ soo much.

You have no proof that Nigeria will become self sufficient in cement, there's a reason why the cost of producing cement in Nigeria is high and low in other countries. Proctetionist measures are no good and will only make the masses suffer while a few beneficiaries like Dangote smile to the bank.

and the local production will produce far more jobs than importation will, and in the long run, our national security and growth will not be ultimately dependent on getting every single thing from overseas.

You're very narrow minded to say the least. With the high price of cement, only heavens know how many people have put off construction plans to a later date and with that the number of people to be employed in construction will be dwindling. If cements could be cheaper via imports, people will probably engage in more construction projects and this should generate more employment.

Your national security is dependent on cement, how funny!. . .Let's forget that your telecoms, satellite industry is in the hands of foreigners, cement is what your national security depends on.

Protectionism only protects an INEFFICIENT local industry like Dangotes that will not stand competition from more efficient manufacturers who know whta they're doing. In a next thread, I'll see you preaching capitalism and increased competition.

I'm not interested in made in Nigeria cement if it's more expensive than one made in China. At the end of the day, if we cannot produce it cheaply, we should look for other things we can produce cheaper. This is the reason for trade, you do what you're relatively good at and sell it for something you're worse off at. Every country can adopt protectionist measures in the name of we want it to be made in our country but at the end of the day, how does that benefit the masses?

How does made in Nigeria cement benefit you and I if we end up paying way more than we will normally pay?

The old import substituition argument.This is the 21st century,everyone knows now that it does not work.The only rationale for implementing such policies is to protect "special interests".

we can produce cement locally and cheaply too, you might think Import substitution industrialization may not work and its obvious you have a hang up on Dangote - trying to play the blame game again. but you seem to forget that Lafarge, Heidelberg, Flour Mills and other local producers are also in support of such a policy and with the current expansion of local capacity being undertaken, we will be self sufficient - $800 million dollar investment in building a 5million tonnes per year plant is enough evidence of progression that line.

with the increased capacity being added, we will reach our desired threshold of 28million tonnes in 2010
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/nationalx/nr202072007.html

all manufacturers are saying is that instead of simply giving into the impulse of importing, get the simple things like gas supply and transportation right and local production will be sufficient. these dreams of importation driving down prices instantly is not entirely accurate, the industry players (who know what its about) have said as much
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200707300111660

your argument is the short sighted one, should we forgo local manufacturing which results in long term employment for both production and construction because of a shortfall now? some not too pleasant measures are needed short term to allow us achieve our long term goals. and a few years of higher prices resulting in self sufficiency in a matter of 3 years is not too long in my opinion.

there are reasons why we have problems producing now - energy (40% of cost due to poor gas supply problems) and to a lesser extent transportation, I think instead of giving up and resorting to total importation (some importation continues mind you) , merely for the sake of reduced prices in the short term, (which in itself is costly due to inefficient use of forex - one of your favorite arguments) we should decide on doing things right to set up our industries properly. protecting the industries till we get those issues sorted out (as soon as possible) is not a bad move and cannot be tied to the interests of one man only, it does the whole country good if we use our inherent advantages in cement production - cheap raw materials and energy to get cement.