₦airaland Forum

tzoracle:
exactly..

But if his main aim is profit making as a business man why is he being part funded by the FG

He’s NOT being funded by the FG.

He’s BUYING the forex. The CBN merely makes it available through its forex window.

I COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY AGREE WITH DANGOTE!

Personally, I am not philosophically opposed to the concept of subsidies (albeit I prefer the subsidization of production or investment over the subsidization of consumption), but as I have previously argued on these pages wrt the “privatized” Nigerian electricity industry where electricity is produced at an average of about N52Kwh and compelled by NERC to be sold at an average of N38Kwh, if government finds subsidies desirable it should provide it directly rather than shift the burden to private producers. The result in the “privatized” Nigerian electricity industry presently is that DISCOs cannot cover their cost and mostly operating at a loss and there do not have equity reserves to invest in the massive repairs, upgrade and expansion of facilities that is badly needed (and that was envisioned by privatization program) nor can they raise debt capital from any bank or other financier with balance sheets are are soaked in red ink - resulting in the mind-boggling conundrum that Nigeria has a reported 2000KW of so-called “stranded” electricity daily (that is electricity generated but which the DISCOs decline to distribute) in a country where there is a desperate shortfall of public electricity supply (and which provides an incentive to continue to sell some electricity to a couple of neighboring countries).

It would have been far easier for the Dangote Group to go into the subsidized imported products business rather than embark on this massively ambitious industrial bell-weather project, because the former is virtually risk-free as it comes with a government GUARANTEED profit (the difference between the landing costs of imported products and the government-fixed pump price). Frankly, with a government license to import petroleum products, one can simply walk into a bank and virtually start counting the money! On the other hand, the Dangote refinery and petrochemical/fertilizer complex will not only save Nigeria the billions of dollars of foreign exchange currently being expended on the corrupt tent-seeking subsidized product import regime, but will in addition earns foreign exchange for Nigeria from exports, and provide THOUSANDS OF JOBS for Nigerians in Nigeria (rather than for foreigner refinery workers in Ireland and/or wherever else Nigeria imports products from), the earnings therefrom which is recycled into the Nigerian economy in the form of goods/services as well as increased government revenues from income and corporate taxes. Accordingly, the Dangote Group should never be placed in the position to lose money on this project solely because of ADMINISTRATIVELY-FIXED pricing, because it would be virtual heresy for Nigeria to create/persist with an economic architecture that rewards importation while effectively penalizing local value-addition, production and manufacturing.

tetralogyfallot:
What an irony if this is coming from somebody that is getting forex far less than market price.

That’s not true. Dangote Group is buying forex from the same CBN forex window as other local manufacturers.

Meanwhile, the group has had to build a private jetty because there is no port big enough to take the equipment required for the refinery, has to build its own power plant in the absence of public electricity supplies, in addition to dredging an area several times bigger than Victoria Island. Embarking on such a massive project takes huge ones - and that’s why no one else in Nigeria (not even the government) has been so ambitious, even though there were at least 28 licenses for private refineries in Nigeria BEFORE Dangote Group acquired its license.

eyeview:
This is why am disappointed when ignorant people mouth that the coming on stream of Dangote refinery will bring down the cost of pms. He is a shrewd and exploitative business man, it may even sell higher than 145. The cement sector that was almost handed to him, how far? Instead we now have cement from N850 to N2300 per bag.
The secret is to completely deregulate these sectors to allow multiple competition, including imported ones. No advantage to any.
Imagine dangote locally refining but already saying he will sell at export price

Why do some people keep citing the cement industry as a Dangote monopoly?

Multinational powerhouses have been in the Nigerian cement market decades before Dangote dreamt of his first cement kiln (nor even started importing cement prior to manufacturing). The world’s most powerful cement powerhouses have operated and have remained in Nigeria since the colonial era and well before Nigerian independence. Global cement powerhouses like LaFarge, Blue Circle (since merged into LaFarge), Holcim (also now merged into the merged LaFarge/Blue Circle entity), Scancem and Heidelberg each operated and continue to operate in Nigeria in some form following their global mergers, and continue to compete with Dangote - not only in Nigeria but across Africa, where Dangote not only has to compete with these deep-pocket multinationals but also with local national cement companies. In addition, BUA Group is a strong Nigerian competitor in the cement industry (as well as several other industries that the Dangote Group is in).

Nonetheless, the entry of Dangote into the Nigerian cement manufacturing industry was one of the greatest things to have ever happened to the Nigerian economy. For starters, it forced the global multinational cement powers, that have for the most part been importing most of their cement products from their associated plants abroad and merely bagging same in Nigeria, to refocus into actual manufacturing and to substantially increase their investment in Nigeria, primarily by upgrading and expanding their plants (or building new state of the art plants, as Holcim did in Calabar/Odukpani) and locally mining limestone or using locally-mined limestone raw material. Furthermore, it forced these multinationals to upgrade the quality of their products from the 32.5R cement grade that these foreign companies had supplied since before Nigerian independence in the 1970s or thereabouts to be able to compete with Dangote’s higher-quality products (being the first cement manufacturer to introduce 42.5R graded cement and subsequently being the first producer in Africa to produce 52.5R graded cement).

But perhaps most importantly for the Nigerian economy, Dangote’s entry into cement manufacturing (together with the BUA Group) turned Nigeria from reportedly the world’s second-largest importer of cement (people of our parents’ generation have stories of long flotillas of ships lined up in the waters off the Lagos Ports ladened with cement imports - and in at least one very ‘Nigerian’ instance, sand labeled as cement - in what the Economist magazine dubbed as “The Great Lagos Cement Armada”) into a exporter of cement, and in the process saving Nigeria billions of dollars in foreign exchange, earning foreign exchange for Nigeria from exports, and most crucially creating TENS OF THOUSANDS of direct and indirect JOBS in Nigeria for Nigerians all across the cement value chain (rather than supporting foreign cement industry jobs).

GenSpecifics:
But the monopolist will get subsidy from FG on crude oil

Dangote is NOT in any way a business genius but a crafty govt contractor who depends solely on lobbying and govt patronage.

If you think otherwise, then ask why his net worth dropped when Nigeria went into recession?

Virtually everyone else’s net worth dropped during the Great Recession. The German billionaire Adolf Merckle even committed suicide.

Furthermore, the massive devaluation of the naira against the dollar (from about N198/1 to N367/1) meant a corresponding devaluation in Dangote’s naira-valued assets (including the publicly-traded Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar, Dangote Flour and NASCON salt). Most wealth these days are not brick-and-mortar but paper valuation.

Ultimately, Dangote’s business “genius” is not necessarily of an intellectual nature but the capacity to see opportunities where most Nigerians whine and bitch about challenges, the ability to follow-through to completion (there were about 28 licenses for private refineries issued BEFORE Dangote’s), and the ambition to dare for the biggest and/or the best - unlike many other Nigerians and Nigerian businesses who seem to operate under the mindset that Nigerians are the children of a lesser God.

santopelele:
this man (dangote) will buy nigeria and everything (including u) in this shithole.
if dangote can build 1 standard refinery, what stops the federal govt frm building 10 of it.
shame to our politicians

The government should not be in the business of building or operating refineries (nor any other business that the private sector can run).

omoluka:
Lol , that's the kind of bull crap lyrics Nigerians enjoy, our type are very few in this country.

That’s the beauty of a free marketplace of taste.

Cheap snobbery is rendered irrelevant because everyone gets to vote with their feet and/or pocketbooks.

SEONaijaExpert:
I think I will be more interested to be a voice for the World Cancer Day

The awareness in Nigeria needs momentum.

Not mutually exclusive.

Banky is a visible voice.

Kurtis02:
Chai.. How can i unsee this

ChaosMagus:
Look at his mouth... We do not know the numbers ..bla bla bla. But you were able to count the number of Nigerian investments in Ghana, you were able to tell us Lagos GDP is far bigger than that of Kenya and Ghana combined. In fact you were able to comb though the entire Nigeria and told us you couldn't find even one Ghanaian company and investment in Nigeria. Shame on you. Your hatred for Ghana did not make you see that for a country like Nigeria that you said is a giant and that it has a GDP of 400 billion, it's annual budget is just a little above
that of Ghana. just 23 billion USD for 200 million people as against 16 billion for a population of 30 million. Now I am not even going to tell you about the hustle Ghanaian businessmen go through to establish branches in Nigeria. talk about the discrimination, the corruption and the under hand dealings and the number of palms that need to be greased. OK just so you know there are Ghanaian companies scattered all over the globe.. we don't brag about it. In oil and gas we have Kampac group and Springfield oil, in IT we have Rlg and Hubtel (formerly smsgh), in real estate we have wonda world estates, in fashion we have Nalem clothing, in airline we have Africa world Airline.. in banking and investment we have Databank, and UT holdings, in beverages we have Kasapreko and many many Ghanaian companies you never knew are doing great in Nigeria and elsewhere even America. The kind of frustrations Ghanaian entrepreneurs go through in Nigeria is not the same thing Nigerian businessmen go through in Ghana. So even if you invest in Ghana is it something you should boast about. There are Ghanaian companies in Kenya , Cote divoire Liberia , South Africa, Singapore , US, Philippines, etc... But you don't hear us boasting as if we are the ones who feed them. Or those Nigerian companies render free service to Ghanaians? you guys are just stupid. And you said you sell gas to Ghana below world price. Who lied to you. Boy get this into your head, Ghana BUYS gas from Nigeria. If you decide not to sell to us fine we can get from somewhere but to say you sell below price to us... OK boy stop deceiving yourself. Also you did not solely fund the the West Africa Gas pipeline... It is a joint venture... Thankbyou

Sorry dude, but I do not accord the dignity of a substantive response to anonymous folks who resort to CHILDISH personal insults and uncouth ad hominem attacks in public discourse. It either betrays the lack of a substantive argument or a crude upbringing. Bye Felicia!

Well done SuperZee!

Rekyz:
Stylishly begging Soyinka to change his mind.

A bit uncouth to reveal private conversations before the principal is ready/willing to do so.

ZOO!

Well done!!

Will always respect Glo because they saved Nigerians from price gouging when GSM first arrived.

helinues:
2 football teams with the club officials

No biggie.. That's Muslims/Northerners life

Yes, even the poor ones too.

Superstitious ZOO!

There’s a fatal accident, and instead of investigating whether the driver had been drinking or other causes (and therefore knowing how to possibly prevent future recurrences) the noise is about “secret cult”, “devil”, “witchcraft” and such other dumb superstition. SMH

Looks crappy tbh...

ZOO!

Superstition running rampant. SMH

Well, Banky says he wants to help the poor. That’s a start.

itiswellandwell:
Imagine! She can't allow her daughter to be disciplined whereby she would have illegally disciplined some people in the past/present. You see why Nigeria is a joke.

Flogging kids is NOT “discipline”!

But of course that can NEVER justify her attack.

Swanzi:
With all that u’ve said can u explain to me why nigeria has the largest no of poverty in the world after India ..?

Did you go out there and count them yourself?

The reality is that we do NOT know the numbers because we (shamefully) do not even know how many we are. We also have little or no means of tracking the massive informal economy (and any informal wealth) in Nigeria. So there may well be more poor people than ESTIMATED or less, but the one CERTAINTY that we know for sure is that NOBODY knows the number of poor people in Nigeria because NOBODY counted them or even counted Nigerians for that matter. Sadly, what passes for “education” and/or public commentary in many parts of Africa is to simply cram-and-regurgitate (built upon the worn “repeat after me” chant of most African teachers) the narrative of others. SMH

Just30:
Ghana does not recieve aid from the US

Of course it does.

About $200 million in 2018 (according to USAID published figures).

Just30:
Let me thread down your write up into the dustbin
first of, Ghana have lots and lots of franchises that are in the Nigerian economy and worth more than a billion dollars
we just dont want to make them known to your citizens because you their xenophobic tendencies
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2018/08/27/meet-the-38-year-old-entrepreneur-who-built-a-1-billion-oil-company-in-ghana/
we have closed to 20 companies already in the nigerian economy
from your oil industry to real estate to technology.

your country has never received more fdi than Ghana in reality and scale
Buhari told you Ghana owe your country
so you also bought that dumb statement ......
Buhari chopped the money.

Ghana will not pay monies for gas that you dont supply
since the contract was signed, Nigerian has never supplied the amount of gas they were contracted to supply.
Ghana will keep withholding payment until you live up to the spirit of the agreement.


it wasn't Nigeria that built the pipeline
who told you that lie ?
Your country didnt know what to do with gas and they were busy flaring it
until Ghana decided to build a pipeline from Nigeria and ask Benin and Togo to be offtakers
it just happens that nigeria contributed the largest amount when they were asked to take part.
That is why, Ghana has since been the one managing the pipeline.

i have never come across an oil producer that wait for customers to build their own pipeline before
thats the sorry case of Nigeria

next time you want to argue , do it with facts
not your sentiments
your country is big but has nothing
yet it citizens never seize on trying to make it important than it is

Dude, you are about to score an own-goal.

Springfield Ashburton was linked to Deziani Alison-Madueke’s massively corrupt oil-lifting regime, and therefore its Nigeria business suffered when the NNPC terminated all Offshore Processing Agreements (in fact, the NNPC no longer does OPA transactions at all), but the Okyere dude reportedly helped out Deziani by purchasing her £4.5 million house in London. Not exactly the sort of ‘investors’ we are looking for.

Just30:

nigeria GDP is bigger than Ghana's
but that means nothing when the ordinary Ghanaian is still better off than a nigerian.
The ordinary Ghanaian will continue to have a better standard of living than the Nigerian.

Ghana offers a sane evevironment for everyone to invest in
Dangote and glo saw an opportunity and they invested.
Ghana will not want to put investment in a fluid case as Nigeria]
Ghana have six different fibre optics running through it shores
glo is the least preffered

Nigerian gas has never been a major part of Ghana power sector because Nigeria has consistently lived below the contractual agreement
at most, only pump 60 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Ghana gas supplies 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day
Ghana still buys 200 million plus standard cubic feet of gas per day from the international market .

so you see
nigeria gas is less important in the Ghanaian sector

Ghana is a middle income economy and does not receive budget support and hasnt receive budget support for 10 years
worry about your country , they are stiil taking budgetry support for education health and the millitary

Get it right buddy. Lagos’ (not Nigeria’s) GDP is almost three times Ghana’s GDP.
Nigeria’s GDP is about TEN TIMES (or more) the size of Ghana’s and Nigeria has a BETTER GDP per capita.

Again, I hate childish mudslings between people who should be be aspiring towards closer ties and brotherhood (because Ghanaians and Nigerians probably share the most cultural and other commonalities among all sub-Saharan Africans or at least among West Africans), but rest assured that there is NO rational basis for economic comparisons between Ghana and Nigeria.

BTW, not to belabor this tedious discourse, but FYI Ghanaian companies do not invest in Nigeria because they do not have the capacity (financial or otherwise) to do so nor frankly anything of comparative advantage to offer. But of course you are free to share with us where else (that is, other than a Nigeria) Ghanaian companies have invested in any significant manner....go ahead, we are waiting.

Just30:


The Ghanaian government will not give travel documents to people who are not it citizens
the Ghanaian government can put restrictions on American businesses in Ghana

as to Ghana's economy crashing
worry about yours because your are sitting on a disaster with a 140 million poor people

Hate when Ghanaians and Nigerians engage in childish mudslinging.

But dude let’s keep it real. The GDP of just Lagos alone is almost THREE TIMES the size of the entire Ghana’s GDP (in fact, it’s bigger than the GDP of Ghana and Kenya combined), with a smaller population. Meanwhile, billions of dollars of Nigerian direct investment contributes to propping up the Ghanaian economy (from massive investments like Dangote Cement and Globacom to banking, real estate and even retail), and even with the discovery of oil and gas in Ghana, it still depends on below market-priced gas from Nigeria’s Escravos for a lot of its gas-powered electricity, and of course Nigeria’s MainOne and Glo submarine cables power large swathes of Ghana’s broadband infrastructure (in addition to MTN’s WACS). Meanwhile, there is no such reciprocal Ghanaian influence on the Nigerian economy.

Nonetheless, all admittedly admirable bravado aside, Ghana cannot afford to piss the West off because until quite recently Western aid inflows accounted for about 40% of Ghana’s national budget (down to probably something in the region of 20% these days).
.

amalab30:
Naija has always been included. No Western country does not have Nigeria on her watchlist.

Abegi, there is no such generalized visa restrictions on Nigeria.

Visas are usually issued on a case-by-case individual basis, which is what applies to Nigeria. In effect, the many Nigerians denied visas are those individually adjudged not to be deserving of a visa (for any number of INDIVIDUAL reasons, including quite brutally frankly the mere “gut feeling” of the consular officer(s)). Nonetheless, Nigerians still receive the greatest number of visas in Africa to the US every year.

ojikeebere12:
But it is a trade and the act clearly forbids engagement and participation in trade.

No, “trade” in the statute clearly refers to a vocation.

If a dude trades-in his used car as partial payment towards a new car, he is NOT engaged in a trade under the statute.

kahal29:

(b) Except where he is not employed on full-time basis, engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade; but nothing in this paragraph shall prevent a public officer from engaging in farming or participating in the management or running of any farm.

Again, can folks quit playing Internet Lawyer abegi.

Without prejudice to the Onnoghen case (because unlike some, l readily plead no privity to the factual details of the case), portfolio investment is NOT “engaging or participating in the management or running” of a private company, business or profession. For example, if you buy the shares of Coca-Cola or Microsoft (or even a non-listed privately-traded company like MTN) and receive distributions (that is, dividends on your shareholding or such other returns) from the company, it would NOT mean that you have “engaged or participated in the management or running of Coca-Cola or Microsoft merely by reason of such distributions.

That’s not a “corporate” outfit...

But she completely slayed! Haters can go jump.

The amount of PASSION in some of the comments is amusing...

If she really is ugly, a nobody, an olosho and all of the other derogatory names, why expend so much of your ENERGY on her? SMH

ZOO!

Tamarapetty:
Waka waka no good

Your comment is disgusting, disgraceful and despicable.