₦airaland Forum

We must be very careful in everything that we do.

Regardless of what this man has done wrong, I do not think it is appropriate for any of us to rejoice over this latest news. It is not our position to judge.

Please, let's be careful.

I wish this man and his family well. And I hope he changes his ways; because tomorrow may be too late.

Posted by McKren

BigB1

Who between us was building castles in air??.

50 days was not too long a time to compile dossiers on any case.

Posted by McKren

I hope you will be man enough to admit that you goooooooooofffffffeeeeeeddd!!!!!!!!. Sorry your plot and media calumny failed woefully.

Honestly my man, I totally missed your point.
Please elaborate a bit for me on this posted comment of yours.

FYI: Being against the way OBJ and Ribadu handled EFCC during OBJ's era is absolutely different from being against EFCC as an organization or being against the arrest of the corrupt governors.

Get it right, my man.
It will be totally senseless for me to be against the arrest of the corrupt governors; all I ask for, is for this organization to be fair, professional and promote perfection during their operations. And this is also the only way they could be effective and efficient.

OBJ involvement means another failure.

War against corruption project should only be coordinated by qualified officials; if dirty and corrupt individuals are allowed to be involved like before, the project will once again run into a brick wall.

So far so good, let's keep our fingers cross and hope for the best.

It is pure avidity, imperious and irresponsible for OBJ to still be getting involved with Nigerian Federal Government daily activities.

Enough is enough; this man has done enough damage to our nation and it's time for him to step aside and leave us alone.
We are no longer interested in his vindictiveness, obstinateness, childishness and unprofessional behavior.

Please, BABA go away; go and get to know your kids, grand kids and great grand kids.

WE'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!

Why Yar‘Adua must confront Obasanjo

“As long as their ambiguity persists, the oppressed are reluctant to resist, and totally lack confidence in themselves. They have a diffuse magical belief in the invulnerability and power from the oppressor…


“The oppressed must see examples of the vulnerability of the oppressor… until this occurs, they will continue disheartened, fearful, and beaten. As long as the oppressed remain unaware of the causes of their condition, they fatalistically “accept” their exploitation. Further, they are apt to react in a passive and alienated manner when confronted with the necessity to struggle for their freedom and self-affirmation.

“Little by little, however, they tend to try out forms of rebellious action”

– Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

I have quoted copiously from this world acclaimed revolutionary Brazilian author because of the graphic resemblance of the situation described by him to the situation of the Nigerian President, Alhaji Umar Yar ‘Adua, who seems incapable of rescuing himself and his fledgling government from the sharp claws of former President Matthew Olusegun Aremu Okikiolakan Obasanjo and his band of power grabbers.

It is pitiable that more than 40 days after the new government came to power; our dangerously hemorrhaging country has been on auto pilot, with no clear captain in control of the cockpit. Why does Yar ‘Adua appear so helpless? What are the bases for the fear of, or self-immolating respect for, Obasanjo. Beyond Yar ‘Adua, why would the self-advertised “biggest party” in Africa, allow itself to be hijacked by one man whose iron claws should have been clipped on May 29, 2007, a party filled with men and women of timber and calibre? What really is the talismanic magic of Obasanjo that all knees must continue to bow before this our modern day Sango (god of thunder)?

For Christ’s sake, Obasanjo was our maximum ruler for eight years. He had received the baton of power from General Abdusalami Abubakar. Did Obasanjo allow Abadusalami Abubakar to dictate to him? Did he allow the Babangidas and T.Y. Danjumas who brought him back to power, and even Atiku Abubakar who supplied the PDM platform, to dictate to him? Did the Ekwuemes, the Gowon’s, the Shagaris have a say in his government? Was the judiciary allowed to function as demanded by our constitution. Was the Legislature allowed to sit and deliberate in peace. Did Obasanjo allow even the executive governors, under a Federal System, to govern in peace without the avuncular presence of a headmaster with super cane in hand, and the sword of impeachment on parade?

Every serious government must have its own character, and bear full responsibility for its action or inaction… Yar ‘Adua can not come out four years from now and tell us that Obasanjo tied his hands and legs, and that’s why he failed.

Yes, Obasanjo helped him into power. Yes, he wants to remain grateful and loyal. No problem. His mother and extended families have gone to see the Ora farmer to express their total gratitude. That should be enough.

Obasanjo himself should realize as a Yorubaman that when we offer goats as sacrifice to Masquerades, we must drop the ropes. For as long as you hold the rope, the ram has not been given to the gods. Obasanjo’s inability to release the rope of power to Yar ‘Adua is heating up our polity again. All men and women of conscience must beg, or force, him to go home and rest in perpetual peace.

As a former international statesman, he should keep himself busy by working hard to salvage whatever is left of his glowing reputation Obasanjo should allow the new government to take off. He should manage his now prosperous chain of companies. He has done his best for Africa and the world.

Those of us who don’t appreciate his style are probably in the minority. And history may still be fair to him. He should, therefore, worry less about local politics, or village matters. He should allow his own people to enjoy their palm wine and their wives. He does not need to control the party to be relevant. In fact, it is very demeaning for an international superstar to become a local champion.

Nigeria cannot afford two Presidents. Sooner than later, there would be some political explosions of cataclysmic proportions. This can be averted by PDP leading Obasanjo back to Ota to live, the Mandela-style, in retirement. Those who made it possible for him to get back to power through the back door must hate him, and loathe Nigeria.

We agree that he has a wealth of experience to share with us, but he can do that privately, and at the Council of State meetings. It is too dangerous to put him in the executive chair. Obasanjo is too combustive to sit still at public functions with the President. He will always make Yar ‘Adua feel like his houseboy and may not even allow him to express his personal or official views. The gentleman will always feel intimidated by Obasanjo’s larger than life image.

Yar ‘Adua must realize that time flies, and yet he has a miracle to perform. In eight years, we did not get electricity, pipe borne water, good roads, good hospitals, good schools, adequate security, affordable foods, good transport, regular supply of fuel, or kerosene and many other necessities of life…

Why then is the ruling party trying to force Obasanjo on us as the only Messiah in Nigeria? Why are they hell bent on causing confusion? Suddenly, they now know that our roads are bad. They now know that Anthonny Anenih did not do a good job as the Minister of Works, and his tenure is now subject to scrutiny.

They waited until the man offended the gods of PDP before they realized the corruption that stank to high heavens at the Ministry.

Where then do we go from here. The solution lies in Yar ‘Adua’s personal determination to succeed, by doing the right things. Most Nigerians see him as a mere puppet, and even, internationally he’s yet to take on the world and stamp his authority as the leader of Africa’s biggest nation. Even at the African Union Summit in Accra, our President looked too timid.

President Yar ‘Adua seems a nice and honest man but that alone cannot take him to the promised land.

http://odili.net/news/source/2007/jul/12/208.html

This will definitely send a message to the rest.

Nothing against KALU; but I just don't think a businessman with multiple business ventures could be an effective governor.

         Businessman + Governor position = Money Laundering

Incredible; after 43 days, Yar'Adua pulled two down.
More would have been pulled down long time ago, but of course, OBJ and Mr. EFCC made things a lot difficult for this new administration.

Let's wait and see what happens from here.

The responsibility will be distributed accordingly:

55% of the responsibility goes to OBJ
OBJ had opportunity and a perfect weapon to fight corruption effectively and efficiently during his time; but he did not do what is right.
He started the fight very well and with good intention, but later on he totally went off track by allowing personal agenda and vindictiveness to take control of the project.

25% of the responsibility goes to Ribadu
This is an incredible Nigerian, who was determined to fight to the end, but he also went off track by allowing OBJ to turn him into a political weapon. It is a shame and very sad that he did not do what is right by being selective and destroying the image of a well established organization (EFCC).
This man is too intelligent not to know the different between what is right and what is wrong.
In my book, he did the right thing, but did not do what is right.
He should have come out like a man and step down the minute he realized that he was being used as a political weapon.
If Ribadu had done what is right at the right time, corruption in Nigeria would have dropped drastically.

10% of the responsibility goes to the system
We all know that the system is dirty and very corrupt, but at the same time we should all keep in mind that the system is created, controlled and maintained by people. Therefore it is the responsibility of an effective government to correct the system and make things right. 

10% of the responsibility goes to all of us, Nigerians
I think Nigerians in general are not ready for new beginning and new ways of doing things. It seems to me that our mind set is so corrupt only God could help us;  and moreover, most of us get sick whenever a better way of doing things is introduced. I guess, it is what it is, one can never polish a sneaker

Yar'Adua, on the other hand is doing his best by approaching the corrupt dirty system systematically.
There is no need for short cuts, rush rush, magomago, pafpaf. All these unintelligent ways have brought us to where we are today.
The only way to correct things is by first studying and understanding the situation (you have to be intelligent and educated to understand these steps). Apparently most of our leaders do not believe in doing things this way and this is why Nigeria is what it is today.
Furthermore, most of us are not used to this type of leadership, this is also one of the reasons why some of us will cry and bash Yar'Adua from time to time (infact, some people already started to call him "slow motion", which to me is totally absurd.

Perfection should be our best friend in everything we do.

It is exactly 42days after the inauguration of our new president and also after the governors have lost their mighty immunity privilege; a single governor has not been arrested.

Who is responsible for this total stalemate?
        1. Yar'Adua
           2. OBJ
           3. Ribadu (EFCC)
           4. The system

TOPIC: I'm Worth Much More Than Oprah Winfrey!

This is nothing, but simply a bright business strategy.

Only an unseasoned businessman worries about people's enviousness.  You can never never be successful if you're busy thinking about what people in general feel or think of you.
As a true businessman, you must go all-out vigorously with all available means or resources to accomplish your goals one by one, without any attention to negative side attractions.

Bravo to DANGOTE; in my book, he represents a mega empire and a brilliant Nigerian businessman.

Me, Obasanjo and Nigeria

PROLOGUE: AMERICANS talk and proudly celebrate an ideal called the American dream. But this is a Nigerian success story come true—the Nigerian dream. The dream of Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the entrepreneur par excellence, the trader turned manufacturer, probably Africa’s richest man with billions of dollars in his kitty and with mega businesses: cement manufacturing, sugar refining, flour, food, drinks and of late, the controversial purchase of two Nigerian refineries.

Dangote, the man on the go to become a global business player with eye particularly on India and cornering of the sugar market in sub-Sahara Africa. Dangote, who is humble but confident enough to admit that he is by far richer than Oprah Winfrey, rated by Forbes as the richest black woman on earth.

Since our last interview in which we listed Dangote’s 10-point business tips, we have been inundated with requests for a continuation of the Dangote corporate secrets by those who said the first story left a great impact in their lives. It became inevitable that we have to return to the Dangote series.

On this Lagos Monday midday traffic gridlock, visible down below from the top floor of his massive office decorated with on-sight pictures of his factories, Dangote is on the verge of leaving Lagos for Ogun State where he is to sign a contract for two spanking new cement companies in Sagamu and Igbese, which would cost $2.4billion.
We couldn’t have come at a much better time for an interview with the man most Nigerians are eager to hear from, the man in the eye of the storm for the sale of two Nigerian refineries many believed were sold far too cheaply because of his strong links with the powers-that-be.

Dressed in ‘buba and sokoto’ with a black Yoruba cap to match, Dangote, is the Nigerian paradox: a rich man who looks like an average man, if not a poor man. An extraordinary man who looks like an ordinary man. In a country where riches go with loudness, pride and arrogance, Dangote is a quiet and humble man who would breeze through an airport without causing a stir. We had earlier met at the Murtala Muhammed Airport on our way to Abuja. He was kind enough to buy us a bottle of water and later agreed to this interview. In the plane, he did normal things like everybody else: eating and drinking the simple and not-so-tasty snacks offered. The only sign of affluence was that he chose to stay in the Business Class, which separated him from the “multitude” in the Economy Class.

Dangote is like a book you cannot judge by its cover. And he is a book himself, a bestseller waiting to be written. You are reading here the memoir before the memoir. It is Dangote’s frankest interview ever. And we serve it to you straight from the horse’s mouth, storified for your reading pleasure:


“The price Nigerians are paying for fuel and diesel is high because they are paying the price of inefficiency and corruption within NNPC,” Dangote says.

“They (NNPC) are not efficient. If they are efficient, then they should produce like India. We are paying for the inefficiency and corruption. There is corruption in the industry. It is a known thing.”

The Dangote story, which starts today, is part of the new focus of The Sun, the Voice of the Nation, a newspaper group that is moving to a higher plane as the centre of national discourse on business, political and social issues.

And, if there is one person whose meteoric forays into the commanding heights of the nation’s business and at times, political sectors, are stirring a national controversy, it is the shrewd corporate mogul, Aliko Dangote.

To some, he is the voice of business, the leader of the business community and the epitome of the Nigerian Dream. But to others and especially his ardent army of rivals and critics, he is profiting from an unconscionable political cronyism and simply buying up the nation’s economic legacies at give-away prices.

His case is made worse by the fact that he is an unapologetic friend of one of Nigeria’s most disliked political leaders, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. In this interview, Dangote opened up not only on the secrets of his dizzying multi-billion dollar business successes, he also gave insight into what binds him to the former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Being No.1
My story is the story of a man and a brand Nigerians have come to know, to love and to accept. Nigerians are investing in us because they believe in us, they believe in the name Dangote. Apart from believing in us, we have a track record which we have actually shown. If you look at all our factories, they have grown steady and gradually to where we are today. In all modesty, we can say we have done very well. There is no business that we are in and we are not No.1. The worse one that we have, maybe we have a second position.

That in itself is our business strategy. We aim to dominate our market, to lead in every market segment. They have all been run efficiently and professionally by people who really know the business very well. We have a very good brand name and that is part of what many people are actually investing in. They are not really investing in Aliko Dangote only. They are investing in the Dangote brand. They believe in my own business acumen but it is not the only thing that people are investing in. They are investing in the Dangote brand. Right from the beginning of our business, we have always been very conscious about what we give to the consumers. Because once you start on a wrong footing, that’s it. You’ve missed it. It’s almost impossible to go back and convince people.

It hasn’t been easy attaining No.1. We haven’t always started as No.1. Often, we start as a challenger, taking on a dominant player. Take the case where in year 2000 we started to enter a market where some people have been there 40 years before us. And we still went into the market and we fought our way in to become No.2. And we are on the verge of getting to No.1. The product is flour. We fought our way up into that market using the power of the Dangote brand and offering quality. Quality customer service and also the capacity. Because if you don’t have capacity, even when your market is good, you can’t do much. To meet capacity, we invested heavily. Apart from investing heavily, we made sure that our quality is good and consistent with the former quality when we used to import flour.

We used to be basically just importers. We were just importing and then we would market the goods and sell. In the beginning, we sold cement. Today, we manufacture cement. Today the best cement in Nigeria—you can go and take the samples and check—is coming from our one billion dollar factory at Obajana. And what we have there is 97 percent local raw materials. The only thing we lack is the gypsum. Even this, we buy some of it from Gombe area which we mix with the foreign ones. But everything is there in one location. And it is the best cement compared to the one we are importing from Taiwan, Europe and China.

The real cost in cement is the mining and the power. Power is a major cost. That is why the profit of a plant up North and the one down here is not the same. Because you need a lot of power up North in places like Ashaka. Ashaka and our own in Obajana is not the same cost. Even by economies of scale, when you look at staff strength of Ashaka, the staff strength of Ashaka is about two-and-half to three times more than the one we have in Obajana. Even though they produce 750,000 tons and we produce 5million tons. So you can see the big difference there. Because we have a very highly automated and most modern factory anywhere. If you look at our chimney, you would not see anything. No smoke belching out and polluting the environment. Nothing. You can eat under the machine. That is how environmentally friendly we practise. You don’t even hear the noise. You would think that the factory is off, but we are producing. You only see the cement out.

There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about me. It’s just that we are very, very shrewd business-oriented company. Even though I am the CEO, it’s a collective business. I am not the only one that really runs the company. There are other good brains, there are other good brains. Because if I don’t have the good support, I can be the most entrepreneurial and talented person but I won’t be able to get to where we are today. Going forward, we have achieved so much and I believe in the next three years, by the time most of the projects stand on ground, we would be the biggest company in Africa.

Government and I
There is no one in the world who would have investments and be fighting government. It doesn’t matter where you are, whether you are in Russia, whether you are in UK, whether you are in America. You would not have investments and say, fine, my No.1 enemy is government. Do people who accuse me of being close to the government of Obasanjo expect me to say my No.1 enemy is government? It is not possible. There is no business that has no link with politics. None. And I challenge anybody to contradict me. Because you either say to a government in power, “ok, fine I am for you.” Or “I am against you.” And obviously, a right thinking business person would say, I am for you. If you need both the government and the people of the country, that is what you would do. That is where the issue of corporate governance and social responsibility comes in. You are not going to fold your arms, because you are operating within the environment. If you are operating within the environment, why do you want to make the government your enemy?

As an entrepreneur, you have to always try to advise the government. You have to tell them that yes, this is right, this is wrong.

In the modern world, the government does not really run the economy. It is the private sector that runs the economy. But there must be a good partnership between the government and the private sector. If the private sector and the government are at variance, then the economy would not move forward. But they need this cordial relationship to be able to move the economy forward. And that’s just where we are as a bridge. If I have this business and I now take a ministerial appointment, then it is totally a different ball game. It is not a question of boasting, our business is real. Real in the sense that yes, we have cement business for example.

The cement business that we have, every single government that comes in, we would be friendly with them, because we are government-friendly. That is No.1. And I believe each and every company is government-friendly. Let Jim Ovia go and be the enemy of government and you would see where Zenith Bank would go. Or UBA. Or First Bank. Even as conservative as First Bank, let them say they don’t have anything to do with government and that they are on their own. Let them be coming out to say things against the government. And they would reap the consequence.

Obasanjo and I
Former President Obasanjo and I became closer because his government is purely for people who would add value to the economy. If I wasn’t adding value to the economy, I can assure you that I wouldn’t be as friendly as I am with Obasanjo. Eighty-five percent of my relationship with Obasanjo has to do with the economy of the country. Even when we sit down, eight-five percent of the time is spent discussing the economy. How do we move the economy forward? And I think I have to be really grateful. Let me share my experience on cement, for example. But for Obasanjo’s encouragement and push, there is no way Obajana would have been possible at all. It was his push that made the difference. I would have made more money importing cement, because I know my cost, I would pass my cost on to the consumers. And today, freight rates from Asia are so high that it is unbelievable. People would have been paying more than N2,000 per bag for cement, if we were importing.

Right now, I am at the point of going to have a meeting with the governor of Ogun State, because we are going to do twice what we have done in Obajana in Ogun State, in Sagamu and Igbese. We are actually going to sign the contract this month, and the contractor would move to the sites and mobilise the sites within a period of 90 days. We have had this project for a while, but now we are doing even four times what we intended to do before.

Still on Obasanjo, let me tell you something. We have never, ever done business with anybody in the government. I don’t like to boast, but let me tell you something. I was born into money. Both my fathers—from my mother’s side and also from my father’s side—they have always had money. So, it’s not that I just came and picked up something from this thing. But it does not mean also in the family that everybody would be rich. I don’t know any of my family member—both from my mother’s side and my father’s side—that has ever had a deal with anybody in the government. It is not only Obasanjo. Even in the society, we don’t have partners.

For the new cement projects in Ogun State, we are targeting 10 million tons there. Now the cost of everything has gone up, even abroad. Cost of construction has gone up, equipment has gone up by 40 percent, but we think with our experience now from Obajana, we would do it at about the same cost. So in Ogun State, we would be investing about $2 billion and then we would have another $850million also to invest in Obajana. Because there are some areas like power where we have excess, like housing, we would just put a little bit more, the gas pipeline, we are not doing anymore. So we would spend about $850million to get 10million tons.

And our target is to get to 23million tons as Dangote Group alone, and other people would have the remaining 5million tons or so. We are going to put down about 30 to 35 percent of the money. We would now borrow the remaining 70 percent. We would borrow mainly from International Finance Corporation (IFC) which is part of World Bank, we would borrow also from European Investment Bank (EIB) and we are also approaching some foreign banks and also the local banks. So collectively, we would spend that much amount of money between now and 2010. And mind you, we have businesses we are running and these businesses are not small businesses. They are big businesses. And part of it, we would be able to pay on our own. In the cement sector, out of the $2.85billion that we have, I think our own contribution is about $840million which is about 30 percent. Within our operations we have that much money to put down for the construction. And you know it’s over a period of three years. And over period of three years, our business is generating good profit and good dividend also. We believe we have the money and we are going to go ahead with it.

Why I am into giant projects
The challenges of this gigantic projects and its huge cost running to billions of dollars don’t scare me. The reason is, if we don’t do it, nobody would come and do it for us here in Nigeria. Let me explain why we are investing heavily like this, especially in one sector, which is cement. As a Nigerian, I want to make sure that people, wherever you live, unless it is an awkward and obscure area of the country, I want to see people buying cement not more than N1,000 per bag. If I say N1,000 per bag, it means the transportation, the profitability and whatever people have to make out of, I shouldn’t sell my cement at not more than N800. I also want to break that jinx of people saying once something is up, it would never come down. I think, with the programme that we have, by 2010, people should be paying for cement the price they paid in the year 2000. Some people say, all we do is to re-bag cement and not manufacture. I laugh.

What I want people to do is to take a trip to Obajana where daily 300 trucks come out of the factory loaded with cement. Let the critics come and they would see that we don’t have the cement coming in, but cement come out daily. It doesn’t make any commercial sense for somebody to carry cement dusts and go and pack them in Obajana. Our quarry is there for people to see the things we are bringing from the ground. Once you see that, then you know we are adding value. Obajana alone is going to save the nation today half a billion dollars. Maybe today, it doesn’t mean much but tomorrow if oil drops to $40, then factories like Obajana are the things that would save Nigeria. Because, whether we have the oil or we don’t have it, we must import cement to provide shelter. And cement is a key product that government must actually give.

Number two: If they say we are bagging sugar, then the person should pay a visit to our factory in Apapa and see what kind of sugar we bring in. What we bring in is raw sugar which is not fit for human consumption. And we are not the only one that have refineries all over the world. There are refineries all over the world and there are two different markets. When you look at the screen of sugar, there is London No.5, which is for white sugar and there is New York No.11 which is raw sugar. So raw sugar is different and white sugar is different.

And that is what people don’t really understand. We get raw sugar, we refine, and not just refine, we separate sugar and molasses. If today, you come to our sugar company, you will discover the business is not just about selling sugar, it is also about selling molasses. We also have a byproduct which is also good for the farm. That is the only product we don’t have much market for.

Sugar story getting sweeter
Today, if we are only bringing sugar to re-bag, why can’t I go and re-bag in Ghana? Today, I am doubling my sugar factory to be able to export. Why? Because European Union has lost the case with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that they are taking sugar and dumping in most of these other countries. And the case was taken by Brazil and Thailand, and they won the case. The EU went on appeal and they lost the appeal. After they lost the appeal, now they were given a time. That is fine, you cannot export anymore, you are exporting today, 7.23million tons, henceforth, which is from the end of 2006, they can only export 1.23million. Which means there is a gap of 6million tons.

This gap of 6million tons is what has now made us to double our refinery here and capture at least the African market. This gap is all over the world, but it is mainly Africa and some Asian countries. The EU have their main market in Africa, north Africa and here in Nigeria. We are importing a lot of sugar. The gap we have within sub-Saharan Africa alone is going to be about 2million tons. So that is why we are expanding. We are not fools. It is the main reason why we are investing heavily to now take our factory to the biggest in the history of the world, which is 2.5billion tons capacity in one single location.

The West can’t sabotage me because they have been asked to close down and they are closing their refineries. Since they are closing down their refineries, who is going to do the export? We would not be in that competitive market with them. There is no competition between us anymore. If we are going to compete, then it is different. They have converted most of their farms to something else. But that is also on another issue all together. Going forward, there is a shortage of refining capacity. It is like oil. It is the shortage of that refining capacity that has been pushing also the price, because of demand. Demand is there. But for the last 20, 30 years, people have not been investing in refineries. It’s the same identical thing we have with sugar. Raw sugar, when you look at it, it’s cheaper, but the refining capacity is not there.

People think we are local
People think we only operate in Nigeria. People think we are just a local, small company. The problem with Nigerians is that, No.1 we are not noisemakers. Because of the nature of Nigeria, we try to be as quiet as possible. We are not loud. And where I come from, we are not taught to be loud. We are taught to be just as simple as possible. We shouldn’t blow our own trumpet. We should allow other people to blow our trumpet. A footballer doesn’t come out and say I am good. You go into the field and prove yourself. When people see what you are doing, then they hail you. Then they say: “This guy is good.” We don’t go about shouting on rooftops that we are good. You don’t market yourself to some extent. You let others do the marketing. And that’s how we are. People really don’t understand us, they don’t know where we are heading, but we are adding a lot of value.

We can see the agitation sometimes of people who wonder over Dangote this, Dangote that, but people forget that we have been working for 28 years. Continuously. We have not relented in the things that we started. Right from the beginning when we started, we have been working hard. We know our target, we know where we want to get to. And if we don’t do it, Nigerians would not participate in our own economy.

Right now, we are having a discussion with a family in India to buy over their cement plant. This cement plant is more than twice that of Obajana. And hopefully we would succeed in doing that. People really don’t understand. Once you get to a certain level, raising money is not going to be difficult for you. And that is the stage that we are in now. If you hear we are doing a $4billion project, somebody would say: Where are you going to get the money from being a Nigerian? Yes, we would get the money. It is not hundred percent my own money. The banks believe in my brain, they believe in my capacity and ability of doing things and they would come along.

When they see the plan, they would ask: Do you have your 20 or 30 percent? I said yes, I have it. And they give it to you. And it’s done. They need me also, because without a good entrepreneur all the money that the banks would have would become stale. They won’t need the money. They just don’t give you their money. They have to see that it’s going to have very good returns. The guy who is presenting this project knows exactly what he is talking about. When we presented Obajana cement project, some of the banks asked: Will this be possible? Will this concept work? For an entrepreneur, everything starts from a dream which we turn into reality.

Lending to the poor
Banks have a critical role to play in any economy. They serve as mediators in any business transaction. They assist entrepreneurs with capital. Nigerian banks have been helping entrepreneurs. I can testify to that. But one area I am not happy with is the area of micro-credit—which is borrowing to the poor. The level we now need to change which is not part of their job is this micro-credit. Because they don’t have the expertise and the capacity to manage micro-credit. We need totally a new, different team to manage micro-credit which can help the economy a great deal. Somebody who is in the village, if you give him N50,000, it would transform his life.

And micro-credit is never really a cheap thing. But it would give you an opportunity of life to have a capital. If you give somebody in your village N50,000, he would create something with it. Nigerians are not lazy naturally. They are very, very creative, but they don’t have access to that money. Today, I am talking of big money. If you had visited me four years ago, I won’t be talking about this kind of big projects that I am talking about. Unless you participate, you can’t grow the economy. And the big difference is that we as Dangote Group, we have not hidden our money abroad and just come home and ‘sit down and look.’ We are properly participating. We don’t expect to carry everybody along as friends. Definitely you would have good friends as well as good army of enemies. They would keep shouting, but their shouting would not really stop of us from what we are doing.

People have asked why I don’t own a bank like some wealthy Nigerians who own banks as an extension of their business, and my answer is that I am not a professional banker. It is not my core business. My core business is actually to run industries. I am an entrepreneur, not a banker. As an entrepreneur you are better off running your own business than running a bank. Banking should be for professional bankers. I am an entrepreneur searching for business opportunities. What I look for in a business is the viability of the project and also the population. And then I do my numbers. I won’t reveal the full secrets but these are a few of the things that I look for.

Even your enemy can buy
From the start, I have always believed in minding my own business and not involving myself in business partnership. Why don’t I like partnership, particularly in Nigeria? I can tell you authoritatively that the easiest way to fight is to have a joint business. Nigerians don’t really understand partnership. I don’t want somebody now, when I have partnership with you, your wife would start telling you: “Aliko has bought a brand new jet. Are you sure he is not cheating you in your business?” Because it has happened. You can go privately and ask some of these bankers. They have put money together and have created a bank. Ask them: Have you ever had issues with your partners?

They would tell you yes, if they are sincere. We have overcome this phobia, by doing our own form of partnership—which is going public. That is why we have started sharing with people by going public. And when you go public, even your own enemy can come and buy shares in your own company. Nothing stops him from buying shares from your company. For me, the only exception is the Blue Star Consortium we formed with friends. In the Blue Star Consortium, yes we are the majority owners, so we lead the rest of the team that have trust in us. That’s what it is. And we are going to create value. We have created value today in a cement company like Benue. We have created value in NASCON. We have created a lot of millionaires in Dangote Sugar.

We have now over 120,000 shareholders. We decided to go public so that we can actually share the goodies with the rest of the population. The idea of going public is also to allow the company to grow. If it is a question of looking for cheap funds, we would have approached the banks. Capital market is ultimately more expensive than loan. When a shareholder puts down his money, it is more expensive. It is better for you to go and borrow than for you to raise money through the capital market. Because, people would be on your neck. If it is a question of money, then it is better for me to borrow. All the profits and the dividends that I am giving away, I would have taken hundred percent of it without me going to Tinubu Square to wash my underwear and hang it. Because today, being a public company, you have to be as open as possible.

Whatever it is, you have to show people that this is it. Nevertheless, we are going to continue to bring in the public, we are going to make sure that Nigerians share from my vision and from the money that we are making. At the current level, we have not actually started anything. I can assure you that we have other companies that would be more profitable by far than our sugar. As at today, by the grace of God, when you look at the end of the year, when we have our full results in sugar, I can guarantee you that our sugar would be the most profitable company in the country.

Managing the Dangote companies
My companies all operate as separate entities. They are all on their own. Each company has a board and their own management. They are all linked to this head office. What we do here at the head office is to monitor what they are doing. We have the responsibility of making sure they perform. Each company has its own budget and we hold them on to their budget. There are some things that we have shared services. Things like legal, human resources, corporate branding. These are what we have in common. For example, a company like Obajana which is a billion dollar investment, since the day we went for the opening, I have not been there.

I haven’t gone back there. But it is operating, it is giving people their cement, they are selling and we are counting our money every day. So I don’t need to be there. But we are looking at what they are doing. And in areas where they are going off course, we are pushing them back to make sure they operate according to the rules and the regulations. As we grow and move forward, I am putting up things outside Nigeria. We plan to have a CEO who would look after the worldwide business, so that Nigeria would become a branch of the Dangote multinational company. Right now, we are in the market looking for a global CEO who would look after Nigeria, look after Ghana, look after Tanzania, look after Morocco. And those CEOs of the different countries will be at par with the CEO of Obajana while they have a boss. They report to their boss.

And the boss has a board and I would be the chairman of the board.
The global CEO I am looking for need not come from a cement industry background—though that would be an advantage. You might come from oil industry, depending on what you have done. Then we would look at it and how many years of experience that you have. But then, we are not doing it on our own. We have an agency assisting us. And we are also doing headhunting. We are still talking to some people from the three big cement companies in the world. So that they would bring their experience and expertise into our own system. I do sometimes involve myself in recruitment. It depends on the position. On the position like the CEO, after they have made their final list of about three to four people, then I would get involved to talk to the person. Because he would also ask me: what is my vision? What do I want to achieve? He would have questions for me just as I would have questions for him. He would interview me and I would interview him. That is what I expect.

Motivation is critical to the success of every business. We give performance bonus. And since we are going public, the staff members would also become shareholders. And the good thing about making members of your staff shareholders is that if there is any connivance or fraud, once the workers realize that they are also stakeholders, they would blow the whistle faster, than keeping quiet. Corruption is something that you keep fighting on a continuous basis. I am not saying that we don’t have that problem in the company.

We do. All the time you have people who are always trying to be smart in the company, but I think going forward, it is the processes that would help you. Once you have good processes within your own system, processes of doing the business—computerization and how things are done and stages of process—it would minimize those things. But whether you can eliminate it is almost impossible. It is true, there is a high degree of fraud in Nigeria, but one of the things that bothers me more is that some Nigerians—I am not talking about my company now—when you invite them to run your business, their intention is totally different. Even when you ask someone to write down his own salary and he says $10million, even when you give him the $10million, he would use the left hand to collect it and be busy with the right hand stealing money somewhere.

We are very lucky really. Our top management is extremely good. We are expanding also at the same time, so that is why we are very careful of how we employ people. I think, going forward also, it would reduce these things, because they too would become stakeholders. I could give you shares worth N5million which in the next five years would translate into N100million. Once you look at the value of these shares of yours, it would not push you to do things that are not according to the rules of the game. Because, if I find out and I sack you, you are going to lose the salary that is worth more than five, six years of the value. I think, having the managers to own part of the company is key to stopping most of these things.

Our company is mixed with foreigners and Nigerians. We are playing in a bigger field where we don’t have the expertise to run these mega companies. You obviously need some help from abroad in terms of expertise. It is not a black box that has been locked somewhere. You can really pay and get these top brains to come and train the Nigerians. And when we train the Nigerians, I think the way we are going, it would be difficult for any good manager to leave our company, because he also has a lot to lose. It’s like some of our staff that now bought sugar shares. They have made a lot of money. When we are going to do our cement in future, we would have now a different scenario. We would have share options. If I am selling my flour for ten naira, as my staff member, I would give you at ten naira but you would pay me in five years. But if you exit within the five years, you lose the shares. These are the kind of things that can actually hold somebody—as a co-owner and co-partner. And not just an employee without a stake.
As a company we have a management and marketing style. Our style is very, very simple. It is low profile but aggressive. We are very aggressive.

Separating men from boys
Managing a company in Nigeria is challenging. Nigeria is the place to separate the men from the boys. It is where you separate a good manager from a bad one. People that are claiming that Nigeria is difficult, there is no place that is not difficult. Every single place is difficult. It depends to what degree. Nigeria, yes, is difficult, but it is also a good place to invest. You don’t really expect to just come and play or wake up at 10 o’clock from your house, come to the office and then close at 2. That’s not the way to run a business. If the place is not difficult, then we would have too many people trying to do the same things. It is a place that I believe has the best opportunities in the world. It might sound crazy, but yes, the opportunities in Nigeria, they are extremely good.

They are there. And people can make good money here in Nigeria. I know there are challenges, but if you are not a good manager, then you would look for areas where there are no challenges. Like now, you would say there is power in Switzerland, everything is there for you. No armed robbers. Nothing. But how much profit can you make in Switzerland? How much profit can you make in Switzerland?

Vision
I am envisioning a company that I think is going to be the largest manufacturing company in Africa. And we thought we were going to achieve this in the next ten years. But now, I think we would achieve that by 2010. We would be a company that I think would have at least something like $15billion of turnover. And that is the minimum acceptable to us. And that is what we would achieve by the grace of God. It is the minimum we would get by 2010. I know that people would think that we are crazy but we would get there. When we started shouting that we are going to be a very, very big company soon, people really didn’t believe that we are going to get there.

And that is why there is a lot of noise all over the place. Because they do not know that we have worked so hard. They thought we just jumped the fence to get to where we are today. In Nigeria, once you are doing well, people would bring all sorts of stories. They would say things like: His partner is this. His partner is that. We don’t have any partner. The partners that we have are the people who have invested through the capital market. We have had a lot of business right from the time of President Shagari. I expect somebody to say on that score that Shagari is my partner. From Shagari to Buhari, our company has been doing extremely well.

And you cannot call Buhari our business partner. We have also operated under President Babangida. We did extremely well during the Babangida era. Yes, Babangida is our friend, but he is not our partner. The same thing applies to Abacha. The same thing applies to Abdusalam Abubakar. Somebody like Abubakar, I am very close to him, we did quite a lot of our projects during his regime. It was in his time that we built most of our plants in the port. But I have never ever been to his house.

No failure in our dictionary
We have shown Nigerians what we can do in the area of cement. In Obajana alone, we sank a $1billion. Why did we sink $1billion to build a plant? We have been tested and we have passed the test. We have done it before. We have done it in cement in Obajana and in Benue. Benue is 60 percent of Obajana. When we bought the Benue Cement Company for example, the company was worthless. For 43 months we were fighting over the company. And by the time we went into the company, the company had even deteriorated, with a debt of N6.5billion.

But today, we have taken that same company, we have sunk a lot of money, we have turned it around and we are going to have a brand new company. Even the Benue State government that was fighting us over the company, the value of their assets is about N10billion. Which state in the North has an investment of N10billion anywhere? None! So you can see the change. We are going through the same experience with our buying into refineries. We are not saying government has no stake in the refineries. Government still has 49 percent, we have 51 percent. By the time we have these refineries ready and working, we would invite the same Nigerians to come and buy shares. Maybe we would have 300,000 shareholders. Nigerians would buy shares, the company would be working, you would get dividends, you would get share appreciation, people would put a lot of money in their pockets. It’s better that way than the refineries being locked up.

Some people think, my strategy is to buy the refineries and lock them up, so as to continue to encourage importation of fuel and diesel. Why should that be? What is our interest in that? We are not involved in the import of oil. We are not importing PMS or anything from NNPC. We are not contractors of NNPC. You think we would now go and tell our banks to come and support us and we put $800million on the ground and just keep it there? We are not like that. We are not that stupid. We are not that kind of company. Our own philosophy in business is that there is no failure in our dictionary. The only business that we have done before which we have failed is not of our own making. We got into textile business and the business failed due to the national problem of smuggling from China and India. Nobody can win in that scenario.

Even those that are hanging in there, they are losing money hands down. And our businesses are operating all on their own, and if you don’t make money, you will find your way out. That’s how we shipped out of textile business. That’s the only area of failure. Apart from that we have not tried any business and failed. We pray that we would not try anything that we would fail.

In this refinery business, there is no failure in our dictionary. We would make the refinery work. Not only that we would make the refinery work, we would make the product available. Not only would they be available, we would make it much cheaper. Nigerians would not live under the nightmare and fear of constant increase in the price of fuel and diesel. The price Nigerians are paying for fuel and diesel are high because they are paying the price of inefficiency and corruption within NNPC. They (NNPC) are not efficient. If they are efficient, then they should produce like India. We are paying the price of inefficiency and corruption. There is corruption in the industry.

It is a known thing. I am not pointing an accusing finger at anybody. When I say, corruption, what I mean here is, a ship of PMS would come and wait there for 20 days or so to be discharged. Who is going to pay for this demurrage? It is the consumer. If not the consumer, then government. You now have people going to get allocation from NNPC. Somebody who knows next to nothing about oil would go to NNPC and collect allocation.

He is not going to use it. He is going to sell it. He would sell the allocation paper. Another person would buy it and resell it to another person, thereby creating layers and layers of fat you need to cut off for the thing to become slim. And Nigerians would now be able to pay the right price. If the thing is privatized, I don’t need to allocate. When I produce, I don’t need to allocate anything.


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AFRICA's RICHEST MAN
He is one of those being accused of buying up the nation’s patrimony under the immediate past Olusegun Obasanjo regime, particularly the Port-Harcourt and Kaduna refineries. But Alhaji Aliko Dangote has defended his role in the entire privatization exercise, saying those raising unnecessary dust, particularly over the refineries sale, are those who had benefitted tremendously from the endemic corruption in the oil industry. In fact, to him, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) stinks.

"The issue of refinery came during the recent government negotiations with Labour over the fuel price increase," Dangote told Daily Sun in an exclusive interview. "NLC was the first to bring in the refinery issue. But to our shock and surprise, government officials were very vocal in wanting to bring the refinery issue to the fore. They insisted the refinery issue must be brought into the negotiation. And that is why they refused to settle the crisis. They wanted the stalemate to degenerate so that government would then cancel the sale of refineries. So that it would be business as usual for those involved in oil business corruption. Fortunately for us, it didn’t degenerate to that."

Throwing more light on corruption in the oil industry, and NNPC in particular, Dangote, whose company has signed an agreement with the government to build a refinery in Lagos, which is the capacity of both Port Harcourt and Kaduna put together, said: "For the last eight years, the government has given NNPC about $700 million to refurbish the two refineries (Port Harcourt and Kaduna). That money wasn’t properly applied. And even after it was applied, the refineries are still not working. They are worth nothing."

Dangote says hurdles were deliberately placed in the path of his company to prevent it from buying the refineries by those feeding fat from the status quo. His words:

"There are too many people eating too much money right from importers, right from people within NNPC that are collecting bribes to allocate products. I am saying that because I know what I am saying. And I mean it. Collecting bribes to allocate products. The problem is, we have a troop of army of people, including people who are getting allocation of this and that. So everybody would come on board to fight us."

The industrialist also shed light on how and why most government owned enterprises like Aluminum Smelter Company (ALSCON), Ajaokuta Steel Mill, and others, were sold at almost give away prices. And of course, his personal worth, which he says is much, much more than the $1.5 billion credited by Forbes magazine to American talk show queen, Oprah Winfrey. The interview below:

I believe in Nigeria
Yes, I believe in this country. I believe there is always going to be Nigeria. My faith and belief in this country is unshakeable. We have to live together in peace and not in pieces. Why are we important in the world today? It is because of our population. Population and our oil. It is not because the world loves the name Nigeria. No. When was the last time you heard about Kuwait or Brunei? The importance of Nigeria is the market.

The population is there. The money is there. It is just a matter of having good entrepreneurs who can push this thing forward. Look at our banking sector today. Banks like Zenith and co are opening branches in London and in Accra, Ghana and everywhere. But five years ago, you would never dream of all these banks getting to this size. Today, Zenith is almost $4billion market capitalization. These are things that we need to look at.

Richest man in Africa
I wouldn’t call myself the richest man in Africa. I would allow Forbes magazine to say so. But I have seen them saying Oprah Winfrey is the richest black person in the world, and she is worth $1.5billion. I think by the grace of God I am much, much, richer than her. But the other one about Africa, I would wait for Forbes magazine to come out with their rating. I think the picture would become clearer towards the end of the year. And they would publish by February. So we keep our fingers crossed.

Business role models
I like what some Indian companies are doing. Companies like Reliance Group and the Tatas. I think we have something in common with the Reliance Group. They think big and they do big things. For example, they decided to go into supermarkets and they are sinking $5billion into supermarkets. They have built a refinery of 660,000 barrels a day. It is a single refinery but the biggest in the world. And they are doubling the refinery. These are the kind of things that we are talking about. Ten years ago, they were not really that big. And in the ’70s, the person who really started the business, their father, Ambani, was a petrol attendant. He was filling people with petrol in their cars when they visited the station. He used to live inside a small apartment with his family. And he dreamt of building a refinery. He died three years ago, but he fulfilled his dream. My dream should be translated faster than his own. But the only thing is that he is playing in a bigger market.

On our part, Dangote is growing. The kind of level that we are playing today, we have passed the level of the food industries. Because food industries wouldn’t take much money. The field is a little bit smaller for us. We have to target the next areas which are oil and gas and telecoms where you need $3, 4, 5billion. If things don’t change, our investment target between now and the next four years is over $10billion. And I know that somebody would say even if you are putting ten percent, where is your $3billion? We are accumulating it and we have accumulated most of it. And we’ll get there. Even if there is a change in government, we’ll still do our business.

We are not a company that is owned by government. People are still doing business in troubled areas like Congo. In fact, Congo is one of the best countries to invest in. During the war in Liberia, people were still doing business. A friend of mine opened a flour mills six months ago in Cote D’Ivoire. And Nigeria is better than all these countries. We are not fighting a war. Yes, we have the problem of Niger Delta, but this is a problem that we have to face head-on. And I think the current government of President Yar’Adua is trying to tackle the problem. I am very confident about the survival of Nigeria. My only fear is the Niger Delta crisis. Once we can solve that and deal with the power situation and we look at poverty, a substantial part of our problem would have been solved. I believe it is not only in Niger Delta that we have problems. Because if we solve the Niger Delta crisis, the next Niger Delta problem would be in the North where the poverty level is very high. There is the need to look at our agricultural policy again and see how we can go with a big heart and do something. And we should also make sure that we create some industries, because you can’t have a place where there is a lot of population and people are sitting down morning till night under the shade of trees.

Privatization: My story. NNPC stinks
The government did not spend $1.1billion to refurbish the refineries as some papers report. I know that fact. The papers are there. For the last eight years, the government has given NNPC about $700million to refurbish the two refineries—over a period of time. That money wasn’t properly applied. And even after it was applied, the refineries are still not working. They are still not working. They are worth nothing. That is No.1. No.2, we didn’t just get up and went to them and said: "Okay, this is how much we are going to give you." There are bidding process that took place.

Credit Suisse have done their own evaluation, which is by far lower than what we have paid. NNPC have done their own evaluation, which is by far more than 40 percent less than what we have paid. These are the owners. They have done their own evaluation. And now BNP Paribas, which was also called in by BTE to come and also do evaluation, just a week before we bought the refineries. Both these two, their evaluation was low.

When we went out to bid, No.1, there was this company Petro Plas or whatever consortium—a Saharan Energy. Their group came and they bidded $300million. But they couldn’t bring even a deposit. They were therefore disqualified. Oando bidded $200million. And they were asked to bring half of the money. Instead of $100million, Oando could only bring $80million. So they were also disqualified. We said $200million for the 51 percent and we put down our $100million. So we qualified. And now, we were asked to go back and bid again and come back with a new price. But because we know the sensitive nature of these refineries, there are too many people eating too much money right from importers, right from people within NNPC that are collecting bribes to allocate products. I am saying that because I know what I am saying.

And I mean it. Collecting bribes to allocate products. The problem is, we have a troop of army of people, including people who are getting allocation of this and that. So everybody would come on board to fight us. When we realized that, we did not bother how much the refineries were valued at. We said, let’s go overboard. And we started with Port Harcourt where we agreed to put an enterprise value of $1.1billion. How much did the government spend in 1989 to build these refineries? Obviously there would be depreciation after these many years. Here is something that was run down. You don’t now go and recover your money. We paid the price of $1.1billion, because the $561million we paid for Port Harcourt is 51 percent of $1.1billion.

We didn’t buy the whole refineries. The government still owns 49 percent. We only bought 51 percent. And 51 percent of $1.1billion is only $561million. That’s how we arrived $561million. In the case of the Kaduna Refinery, the Chinese which Nigerians don’t mind, if it goes to a foreigner, the Chinese were given juicy oil blocks. The day that they signed the production sharing agreement, that was the day that they said: "We are not bidding, unless we sign and collect the oil blocks." These guys signed and collected the oil blocks and they still priced the refinery at $102million. And they vowed they would not pay more than $102million.

Then we said, fine, rather than allowing this thing to decay like that, we wrote to say we were interested also in bidding. The price that they gave was far below the reserved price. And now, we gave 60 percent more than the Chinese. And the Chinese said they were not going to put a dime more than $102million. We bought at $160million with all the challenges. But I thought this same refinery was given to Shell, to Chevron, to Texaco and they rejected them, saying they don’t want to even run them for nothing. And we have now paid over N100billion and people are shouting. I believe people should focus more on shouting about Eleme Petrochemical. Government spent almost $1.5billion and it was sold for $200million. And we bid. And we lost.

And people didn’t see that. We bid for the same Eleme Petrochemical with a company that has never ever visited Nigeria. But because they are foreigners, they bought not even 51 percent, they bought 75 percent. And they were hailed. And they paid. And they got it. We lost as Dangote. And we spent more than $5 to 7million doing things like bringing experts to come and check and do diligence and all that. We lost our money and time. But Nigerians didn’t say anything because these are foreigners. That is by the side. The third point is that people bought Ajaokuta. Ajaokuta almost made Nigeria bankrupt. The government of Nigeria spent $4.4billion on Ajaokuta. And all these foreigners don’t bring their money in here. Majority of the money they borrowed locally.

They didn’t bring fresh cash. And these same people paid a paltry $300million for 60 percent of a plant that government spent $4.4billion. Nigerians are not complaining about that. Instead they are complaining about our own. Because people don’t have interest in the steel industry. Delta Steel, government spent $1.45billion, then renovated it with 45billion and they sold it for 30million to be paid over three years. This one was also sold to an Indian company. They don’t have anything in Nigeria, but people now are not complaining. I am not complaining about the price these things were sold. What I am complaining about is that if you have to complain, then complain about foreigners taking our assets.

At ALSCON the smelting company, government spent $3.4billion. The Russians that have never ever visited Nigeria bought the company at $200million, with the condition that it is after the government dredges the river they would pay the $200million. And the cost of dredging the river is $260million. So you can see that government had to give out $60million out of their pocket to get rid of ALSCON. Because if not, the place would continue to go down, people would go and start cannibalizing the place. So government now said, "We don’t have any more money to sink in. Rather than continuously have this assets go under, it is better we even give them out for peanuts."

From my experience abroad, in some of the privatization, they would even ask you to pay one dollar, and you take over the company. Because when you take it over as a private person, you run it well, people would have a livelihood out of it and the place would work. You provide jobs.
Still on refineries, we have signed an agreement with the government to build a refinery in Lagos, which is the capacity of both Port Harcourt and Kaduna put together. We have signed an agreement with the Federal Government and we would get there.

Negotiation: Govt vrs NLC
The issue of refinery came during the recent government negotiations with Labour over the fuel price increase. NLC was the first to bring in the refinery issue. By the time that we sat down with them and convinced them, they agreed to take off the refinery issue. But to our shock and surprise, government officials were very vocal in wanting to bring the refinery issue to the fore. They insisted the refinery issue must be brought into the negotiation. And that is why they refused to settle the crisis. They wanted the stalemate to degenerate so that government would then cancel the sale of refineries. So that it would be business as usual for those involved in oil business corruption. Fortunately for us, it didn’t degenerate into that.

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Court stops IG, EFCC, others from arresting Fayose

FORMER governor of Ekiti Sate, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, is set to return to the state, courtesy of a Lagos State Federal High Court Order which forbids his arrest, detention, intimidation, harassment or curtailment of his movement.


Ruling on the ex parte motion brought before it by the former governor, which asked the court to grant him leave to exercise his fundamental human rights under Section 35(1), Section 36(1) and Section 41(1) of the 1999 Constitution, the presiding judge, Justice T. Abubakar, granted all the prayers of the plaintiff.


The order, which was contained in suit No. FHC/L/CS/584/2007, declared that “all the application is granted.” And the applicant is granted leave to enforce his fundamental rights.


The order pronounced a “stay of all actions by the Nigeria Police, and State Security Service (SSS), including arrest, detention, molestation and restriction of applicant’s movement.”


The court also stated that “it is ordered: That this Order and other processes filed by the applicants be served on all the respondents.

The matter has been adjourned till 16th day of July, 2007 for report of service.”


Counsel for the former governor, Dr. Alex A. Iziyon (SAN), in line with the order of the court, has written to the Ekiti State Director of SSS notifying him of the court order.


In a letter addressed to the state security boss, Dr. Iziyon said “we believe, as tested officer in your area, you will ensure compliance and follow the due process in this matter. In this regard, your subordinate officers who might be overzealous (sic) by breaching the order need to be updated and appraised of this new trend.”


In his reaction, Fayose described the “recent development as an acid test for the new Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, who has vowed to uphold the rule of law, to put his resolve into action, by ensuring that due process is strictly adhered to in this matter.”


Already, the former governor has officially informed the state governor, Mr. Segun Oni, of his intention to return to the state in order to continue to contribute his own quota to the political, social and economic advancements of the state.


Nigerian Tribune also gathered that the former governor’s supporters are planning a rousing welcome for him in the state.


http://www.ngex.com/cgi-bin/frame/frameit2.plx?link="http://www.tribune.com.ng"

Stop hating.

Haters do not prosper

You guys keep on twisting things around.

This move is nothing, but simply a business strategy.

You become more popular when you compare yourself to popular and important people.

As long as you can hold up to the competition, I truly do not see anything bad in this statement.
Do you think Oprah gives a sht?

Absolutely NO.
No need to disrespect the man; he's still one of the most important profitable asset in Nigeria today.

Posted by MAMAJAMA:

how do you know Dangotte is corrupt?

Who said DANGOTE is corrupt?

Posted by MAMAJAMA:

BIGB1 what world do you live in.  what kind of business strategy is saying you are richer than another person provide?  that argument is senseless. its a free world DANGOTTE is allowed to say what ever he wants and I think he has done allot for Nigerians but we need more from him.  I encourage him to embark on more life changing projects and engage in a philanthropic organization to better peoples life.  No one will buy your product by saying you are the richest man in the world.  People buy products based on choice and desire or brands

First, it is clear that you know absolutely nothing about the man, DANGOTE; and it will be fair and decent for you to slow down and do some research before talking rubbish as usual.

Second, if you're the richest man around it means your business ventures are bright and mostly successful, which also means you're a brave man and you represent a profitable asset.
When this happens:

1. Banks tend to easily back up all your investment.
2. Investors tend to take risk investing with you without any hesitation.
3. Your stocks stay at the top at all time.
4. Government contract becomes very very easy for you to get.
5. Politicians kiss your ass with no problem.
6. Your businesses are treated with respect all over the world.
7. Top notches from all over the world want to work for you or represent you.
And so on.

In short, you become untouchable and a mega empire.  

Finally, Stop hating, let's embrace and be proud of the man.
Don't you guys tired of 419 on CNN every other week?
This is a GREAT news for Nigeria in general.

I love Oprah, but my respect goes to DANGOTE and I wish him well with everything.

Posted by Seun:

Why is he boasting? Oprah Winfrey doesn't boast about her wealth. Boasting about wealth only breeds envy.

This is not boasting, this is called business strategy.
It is another way to advertise yourself and your business venture to the world. If you have the balls, it isn't a bad strategy.

When you get to DANGOTE's level, people envying you becomes part of your life. You can never detach yourself from it. There will be haters regardless of what you do or what you say or how you carry yourself.
You must not pay attention to these irrelevant side attractions

As a successful businessman or CEO:Your business venture is your number one priority and you must stay focused and careless what anyone thinks of you.

My man, you continue to repeat "they" "they" over and over. "They" are not the only problem facing Nigeria. We all represent Nigerian problem; and till we are ready to accept this responsibility, this problem remains unsolved.

They can go ahead and arrest every single governor, but our problem is not solved and will not be solved; because another crew is ready to pick up where the former governors and OBJ stopped.
We must all come together as one, restructure the system and clean up our culture.

My friend, the crisis in Oyo state will be resolved forever in few weeks.

Enough is enough, there is no way we can continue with these uneducated thugs in the office. We must present something more decent for the kids, the future of our nation to follow or to look up to; and definitely what we have in Oyo state today doesn't represent anything presentable.

This nonsense must end, people from Oyo state must regain or reclaim their state from the hands of thugs, who clearly have absolutely nothing to offer.

Believe me, this new administration is looking at this situation as we speak and I'm sure that very soon they will come up with a better method to disable these parasites forever.

Keep in mind that OBJ is gone and Ehindero is 100% disabled. There is no more obstacle, Oyo state must become free again and I can't wait to witness our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers etc to go about their daily activities in peace.

Ifeniyi22:

I think the guy should be removed. he has done his bit.'Baba' obviously had and probably still has too much hold on him.The chairman of EFCC needs to be neutral, we can only pray that his successor will have a free hand to do what has to be done

What a bright post.

Blame OBJ for Adedibu’s excess –Agoro

FACTIONAL chairman of conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Dr. Olapade Agoro has blamed former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for the lingering political thuggery in Oyo State.

Agoro, a former presidential candidate of National Action Council (NAC) in the last April elections stated this in an exclusive interview with Daily Champion noting that the strong man of Ibadan politics, Chief Lamidi Adedibu had the support of the former president which emboldened him to unleash violence and thuggery on the peace loving people of the state.

He recalled that Obasanjo had to raise up Adedibu’s hand at a public gathering and declared that "Adebidu cannot be changed but managed."

He explained that since the problem in the state was self made, "until the people of the state are ready to free themselves from this self imposed ‘tin god’, there may not be any respite".

According to him, "Adedibu did not send any invitation to anybody and yet all who is who in the political arena in the country are trooping to his house for one political favour or the other, "therefore this is the time to pay back, and the old men should not be blamed but rather it is those who turned him to ‘tin god’ that needed to be appeased.

"Ironically when the devil gives you money, definitely there must be a prize, unfortunately the devil is going to request for the power in you. That is exactly what Adedibu is doing in Ibadan and the people seem to be helpless.

"Those who are trooping to his house at Molete in droves and earn their source of survival at the place will go to any length to protect the free food and money they are getting on a daily basis."

The Presidential candidate pointed out that the political logjam in the state did not start now, "it started long time ago. It was the same Adedibu that installed Kolapo Ishola, Ishola was wise enough to appease him till the end of his tenure, but Ladoja who claimed to be too wise was ridiculed out of office by the same man, before the court decided otherwise, Akala now has a choice either to continue to appease the ‘god of Molete’ and remain in office or do otherwise and face the consequences."

"Adedibu today is worth billions of naira which all these political big weight take to him in the cover of the night when they are desperate to have political power, therefore the time to pay back has come, unless the people of Oyo State stand up and say no to these gangsterism, the situation may remain unchanged," he explained

http://odili.net/news/source/2007/jul/5/507.html

Confirmed
It is a done deal.

@stanech: I don't see anything wrong.
It is one of the roles of an effective leader to forecast.

Leadership: you set your short term goals/ long term goals, present the goals along with your already evaluated strategies to the citizens of the nation and then execute.

My Man, if you don't have anything to say, please stay cool and just ready; it's not by force.
It is a crime to speak rubbish just because you have nothing to contribute.

You don't like to deeply think about issues before speculating. If you take your time and try to see through the dark, you will realize that moving Ribadu is the right thing for him and for Nigeria.

This is not a game, but a  pure method to move forward effectively with the war against corruption with out any question.
If Ribadu retains his current position, it will just be the same old same story over and over; at the end of the day nothing will be accomplished.

Yar'Adua is a smart man and he's determined not to reactivate a failed strategy. He's new and he wants new strategies, new people and new beginning for Nigeria.

The problem here is the fact that you're too emotional and it is a sign of weakness. You need to calm down and think about it.
Removing Ribadu doesn't mean he's a bad man. It is simply an accurate political decision (re-dispatching this man to another position will make him more productive and we also prevent corrupt leaders from using OBJ's propaganda excuses).
OBJ is gone and Ribadu is gone, it's now time for these bastards to pay. That is how to look at things.

Ribadu has done his best by laying a solid foundation, and now is the time for him to step aside and allow someone else to carry on the project.
This process is also called fresh start.

McKren, are you telling me that there is no other Nigerian citizen that could successfully carry on this project?

My man, you will be surprised that there are many other competent, honest and dedicated Nigerians out there, that could even produce a lot better than your man, Ribadu.

Stay cool; it's not personal, it is the right thing to do at this point in Nigeria.

New beginning New Nigeria. It makes no sense to continue with OBJ left over junkies.

@McKren:
Removing this man doesn't mean he's not capable. It is simply an effective political decision, which has to be made by the president.
Ribadu's talent could be used somewhere else, but absolutely not as the chairman of EFCC.

We must relaunch the effort to effectively fight "war against corruption"; and part of this process is removing Ribadu from his current position.
No disrespect, it is purely clear that he must be moved to successfully accomplish our goal. There is no way we can move forward with him holding the same position, which he clearly unintentionally abused during OBJ era.

I'm pretty sure that the new administration is competent enough to make this move ASAP.

It is simply the right thing to do.

We shall see!

Instead of spending and wasting time on unnecessary personal agenda projects (eg stopping Atiku, impeaching Ladoja etc), let's spend more on educating the voters and develop a sense of confidence in our political election system by upgrading or empowering the election process.

Finally, someone is listening.
Yar'Adua is on the right track; what you see is what you get. Honesty, integrity, dedication and sincerity.
Nigeria is coming back to the top shortly

Nigerian President is here, it's time for business!

@McKren:
Settle down and learn from the best.
This was recommended 6 months ago.

Yar’Adua: 2011 Polls Will Be Credible

From President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua came an assurance yesterday that the next general elections in Nigeria would be credible. He assured the African Union (AU) leaders shortly before the AU Summit ended in Ghana that he would ensure that there "credible, free and fair elections in 2011.”
Yar'Adua reiterated that his administration would reform the electoral system to deliver "credible and fair" polls in 2011, in what was seen as an admission that the election that brought him to power had flaws.
He said as soon as electoral tribunals conclude their work on disputes that arose out of the April elections, major reforms would start. He had made a similar promise when he was sworn in as president on May 29.
"We have a lot of work to do to re-examine the electoral process so as to make future elections peaceful, credible and acceptable to the vast majority of our people. I consider this as a major legacy I want to leave to Nigeria at the end of my presidency: that we can conduct credible and transparent elections," Yar'Adua said.
While insisting that he had a genuine mandate from the Nigerian people, Yar'Adua has also recognised, on several occasions, that there were flaws in the polls.

http://www.ngex.com/cgi-bin/frame/frameit2.plx?link=%22http://www.thisdayonline.com%22

Three shortlisted for Ribadu’s job

THE plan to remove the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, may have gone beyond speculations as three Northerners were said to have been shortlisted for the position.

Nigerian Tribune investigations revealed that the plan for a change of leadership in the commission was premised on the need to give the commission a non-controversial status in view of the commission’s alleged involvement in political cases before the April polls.

That thinking was said to have received the nod of the new president, Umaru Yar’Adua, soon after assuming office with those pressing for the change of guards comparing the extension of Ribadu’s tenure by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the case of the former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero.

In the last two weeks, three top security operatives were said to have been interviewed with one of them coming from the police service.

One is from Kaduna and reported to be sponsored by a Northern state governor while the other, from one of the North Central states, is said to be a professional operative without political affiliation.

The third candidate, the Nigerian Tribune learnt, is from the same zone with Ribadu and with service background in the Nigeria Police Force.

Nigerian Tribune was, however, told that a strong lobby had emerged pushing for the retention of the anti-corruption chief as they see the planned removal as a bid to appease some political forces still bitter with Ribadu for his role in the last election.

While it is not clear whether the removal was part of the conditions given by the opposition for participation in Yar‘Adua’s government, it was learnt that the matter was still on the table with pro and anti-Ribadu forces mounting pressure on the president.

Meanwhile, a Northern Coalition for Democracy and Justice (NCDJ) on Tuesday said the plan by some top people to remove Ribadu had long been afoot but had not seen the light of day because the present civilian government had never given his removal any serious consideration.

Its coordinator, Umar Farouk, said that Ribadu had been aware of the plan to remove him and had never been bothered since, according to him, he had been used to bitter reactions from those he said had made themselves the sworn enemies of the EFCC boss.

The youth leader said his group had had audience with the president on salient national issues at different times and was able to read the president as a serious-minded person.

He told the Nigerian Tribune that Yar'Adua was serious about continuing the anti-corruption war initiated by the Obasanjo administration and believed that Ribadu, if further encouraged, would prove his mettle in fighting corruption in Nigeria.

http://www.ngex.com/cgi-bin/frame/frameit2.plx?link=%22http://www.tribune.com.ng%22

@McKren:
Settle down and learn from the best.

This was predicted more than 4 months ago.

FG moves to remove Ribadu as EFCC boss - Ribadu confers with OBJ Taiwo Adisa, Abuja

There are indications that the President Umaru Yar’Adua government may be planning to replace Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as the head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Sources in the Presidency told the Nigerian Tribune on Monday in Abuja that if the moves around the presidency in the last few days were anything to go by, the anti-corruption Czar might be replaced soon.

Some agents of the government were said to be studying the EFCC Act, with a view to identifying areas to be exploited to remove Ribadu.

“If the going on in government circles in recent days is anything to go by, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu may be removed as EFCC boss. The moves are already thickening within the Presidency. His touted replacement is a director in the headquarters of the State Security Service (SSS),” a source said.

Ribadu had in the last days of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration got appointed for a second term of four years in office. But the moves to replace him are said to be creating some ripples in the government circles.

The anti-corruption chief has been largely quiet since the dawn of the administration of President Yar’Adua, unlike the outspoken nature he displayed during the last administration.

It was gathered that the top security chief tipped to replace Ribadu had been interviewed by officials of the Yar’Adua government, while he was said to have also been briefed on his next assignment.

The security chief is said to hail from Kaduna State. The Yar’Adua government has practically silenced Ribadu since coming on board on May 29 and had prevented the man from arresting former governors who had been investigated during the administration of President Obasanjo.

Unconfirmed sources also claimed that Ribadu was at Otta, Ogun State on Monday to meet with former President Olusegun Obasanjo but details of their discussion was unknown at press time.

Meanwhile, efforts to get the Chief of Staff to the EFCC chief, Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, and the Head of Public Affairs of the commission, Mr. Osita Nwajah, for their comments proved abortive.

Text messages sent to their mobile telephones were not replied.

http://odili.net/news/source/2007/jul/3/553.html

BUSHFELLOW: excellent point.