₦airaland Forum

maclatunji:
The classic IPOB dubious intellectual framework. Comparing colonial government to your fellow citizens. Who taught you guys to be such whiny weenies incapable of competing in your own country? I mean Southeast states should be better than Lagos if not individually collectively if you are truly as smart as you want us to believe.

You need freedom indeed- from your own duplicity and inferiority complex.

You said it all, I keep wondering who is enslaving them.

IamaNigerianGuy:
200 million was the loan. There was much more where that came from as well as political support from successive regimes.
The stars aligned for Dangote. He's a 21st century robber baron who knows how to get good press.

A man who can sustain business in about 18 countries and still continually invest is definitely no small man, and l ask you where are the other top business men with their political support? You have no case man. If the man can be supported by every regime as you say, then there must be something each Government sees in him or there must be something he does better than the others.

Obi1kenobi:
I think his refinery is a brilliant vision if it doesn't become another instrument of exploitation like we saw with cement. Cement price more than doubled after the import ban and despite the massive profits of the cement cartel, they've done nothing significant to crash the price. Our local cement is one of the most expensive in the world. Dangote's refinery project has been making the same kind of noise about how price will come down, but considering the monopoly he will have (his refinery will single-handedly cover Nigerian demand and we'll become a net exporter of refined crude), he'll be able to dictate market price and continue earning his massive profits with government compliance. Just read this funny article and the understandable fears:
http://newsrescue.com/dangote-refinery-nigerians-will-pay-double-for-petroleum/

The problem then is not with Dangote but the Federal Government. Federal Government can also ensure the other refineries work to capacity, using Dangote refinery as a support base.

Obi1kenobi:
In other countries, the margins you expect in the business range from -2% to 15%. If a businessman is making over 50% profit on a consistent basis, then he's basically benefitting from a system of exploitation. To be fair, others in the cement cartel followed suit, but Dangote's dominance of the industry was the catalyst for the explosion in cement prices. This article makes some good points about some of the issues:
http://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2017/05/18/welcome-to-the-federal-republic-of-dangote-by-bongo-adi/

Your article supports my point, Dangote is only making the most from the failures of Government, this is what capitalists do.
Why l don't like criticism of Dangote is this..
He is investing and creating jobs and not in the West but in Africa. Whatever we say about his refinery, it would remain on Nigerian soil for generations to come even after Dangote, and if successful would solve some little problems no matter what, monopoly or no monopoly. Other Billiinares should follow suit(including me), solve little problems, take risk. Dangote needs our support at this time, the shouts of monopoly every now and then whenever his laudable project comes up is becoming stale.
As regards your first point, note that Dangote also suffered the effects of the recession and his net worth suffered from the fall of the naira, it was reduced by half.

Obi1kenobi:
Dangote was also an importer at the time. He was at this time made the sole importer of cement (along with commodities like sugar and rice) as one of the perks of his "pioneer status" that he acquired.

Dnagote's spread across Africa is yet another story that indicts the government. His massive forex waivers have allowed him access forex at rates that are far below his competitors. Basically, the Nigerian government have subsidized his sojourns across Africa. It's little different from from the fuel subsidy fraud where marketers are paid for imported products, which they then divert to other African countries.

I've said it several times that I respect Dangote's business acumen, but since the Obasanjo era, he has exploited the rot and incompetence and greed and corruption in the Nigerian government. He's only slightly better than Otedola who basically made most of his money of sharp practises in subsidy and waiver fraud. Oligarchs are not the greatest examples of people to exalt and elevate.

I know he was an importer at the time, but can you prove he was made the sole importer? How is that even possible? There are other cement plants in Nigeria and some even before Dangote.
If you say Dangote enjoyed favours from Government, my point is why is he always favoured by every Government, he is not the only one with connections, or is he?

Obi1kenobi:
One of the incredible things about Dangote is his company has earned over 2 trillion naira in the last 7 years, and he has made over 1 trillion naira profit in that time at a whopping 52% ratio. It's a consistent trend when you keep looking at his company figures. Any amateur economist (of which I'm one) could easily tell you that is one of the tell-tale signs of a cartel oligopoly that is exploiting a very poorly regulated system. It also calls into question the pricing of his commodities - especially cement where being the undisputed market leader, he is easily the most influential determinant of the pricing.

Everything has gone up, there's high inflation and interest rate in Nigeria, why should his cement be cheap? Would you do business that way?

Obi1kenobi:
Read this article.
http://newsrescue.com/dangote-refinery-nigerians-will-pay-double-for-petroleum/

I remember an old Thisday my dad bought in 2003 treated it extensively (I was still a JSS kid then ) and my dad, an FIRS retired director who was a tax consultant for Ibeto spent a lot of time railing about how Obasanjo crippled Ibeto's cement business. Dangote around the time was at war with pretty much the entire cement producing cartel because of the government bias towards him which opened the way for his dominance in the sector.

Dangote in response to this allegation has said he took the risk to build cement factories in the country rather than just import,
and Obasanjo seeing that it was possible to source cement more locally, banned imports. He also said building of that factory nearly failed and were his toughest days in business, as it was his first cement plant then.
Obasanjo merely banned imports, that's all. Can lbeto take that same risk considering how challenging it is to do such things in Nigeria.
Note that Dangote is not a local champion, and has spread across 18 nations in Africa without Obasanjo.

Obi1kenobi:
Read this article on Dangote:
http://saharareporters.com/2016/03/25/dangote-paradox-moses-e-ochonu

I respect his acumen as a businessman, but we don't have to pretend Dangote is some kind of Warren Buffett or Larry Ellison. He's more like Nigeria's Abramovich: an oligarch primarily empowered by a crony-capitalist government rather than his enterprise and vision. The Cement industry (which accounts for almost 80% of his turnover) in particular is where the government wrecked Dangote's competitors to facilitate his rapid ascent: especially under Obasanjo.

He's also incredibly ruthless and his impact on the cement consumer market has made the notion of local content in cement production worthless. We might as well be importing cement at cheaper rates if we're going to get ripped off by Dangote and his cartel. Is it any wonder that his cement company made a ridiculous 201b naira profit from a company revenue of 386b in 2013 for example. Yet, prices have remained high, depressing the construction industry. Which government regulatory framework could possibly stop a man who is well entrenched in the corridors of power?

Can you explain how Obasanjo wrecked his competitors, just for the sake of facts please, cos it seems more like propaganda than fact.

Another tribalistic topic.

Aquariann:
Typical African (or is it Nigerian) victim mentality. It's easier to blame your succeeding/successful neighbour for your failures than try to copy his tried and tasted working template. Or seek the right counsel.

Dangote doesn't just follow the crowd. Everyone in the oil sector was using the easy route of importing. He chose to best route which is to refine locally. Everyone once imported cement, he chose to manufacture.

He now plans now to set up a private university focused on technology research or something like that.

This is a niche I've always wondered why no one wanted to invest in. i.e rather than just follow the band wagon setting up conventional universities with everyday courses, someone should invest in Specialist university.

What I had in mind was even a university of say (strictly) medicine, medical science and drug(including cancer) research sort off. Just think of the huge profits from educational and medical tourism both from Nigerians and foreigners. Nigerians wouldn't have to visit india or John Hopkins

Thank you Jarry, most Nigerian Billionaires don't think out of the box, maybe due to the quick oil money available.

Aquariann:
Yes o.. The DPR issued about 25 licences to individuals who said they could/would set up private refineries in the country. But as at today, only Dangote is building his own refinery. Mind you, 21 of those licences are for modular refineries (i.e not up to Dangote's size, with just 10,000pbd as their refining capacity)

Others, perhaps are waiting for when the FG would auction Ph, Warri and KD refineries so they can bid. Meanwhile these same people Have started shouting he has the monopoly of building a refinery.

What they fail to ask themselves is this... if Dangote have only been successful via monopoly then why did he fail with noodles in Nigeria, and why does he fear the telecommunication sector because he has little knowledge of it compared to other top players

mtis:
Ican...

igbo----Light skinned
Yoruba---Dark skinned
Hausa----Look like Somali some how

you see now, you are wrong.

Aquariann:
Exactly. These people keep shouting monopoly here and there, but has the government stopped anyone from venturing into cement production?

There's abundance of limestone everywhere you turn to in Nigeria, yet these folks would rather import finished cement from Asia (branding it their names) than set up factory, which is better in the long run for the economy.

Only God knows what the price of cement would have been if importation wasn't banned with this dollar wahala.

Talking about monopoly, I can name the following cement manufacturers in Nigeria other than Dangote
1. Bua cement (Edo state)
2. Sokoto cement (Northern Nigeria cement company)
3. Unicem (Akampka, Cross River, more expensive than Dangote and predominant/preferred in the South-East)
4. Gwana Cement (Bauchi state)
5. Lafarge cement (Ogun state)
So with these other players, how has dangote monopolised cement production in Nigeria?

Dangote tried his hands in Noodles production but failed. Thanks to Indomie's aggressive marketing strategies, Dangote was forced to sell Dangote noodles to Indomie because they couldn't keep up. But if Dangote had succeeded, these same folks would be shouting monopoly, rather than blame indomie for their failures

Those wailers would never stop, Dangote is also successful in about 18 African countries and is the biggest business conglomerate in AFRICA, can MONOPOLY alone take one that far

buffalowings:
People will come for you for saying this..

Just like Trump

I don't have anything against these people
But the 'inspirational' stories they sell is revolting

You have to have money to make more money

And if you were poor and you hit the jackpot
You were just damn lucky

Dangote always admitted he started as a rich man and with a huge loan.

400billionman:
Do not mind them

I just dey laugh.

Shebi, he said he will make cement sell at N1,000 per bag. He was using that to court the GEJ,(a sincere) administration.

How much is cement selling today ? The chips are down. Its N2,500.

is the value of the naira not also way above what it should be and even inflation and interest rate is high in Nigeria.

Satansadvocate:
What a man cannot do,a woman will do with added jara


the ladies made us proud

Our men are also current basketball champions.

zopaks:
Senegal is tougher and better than Mali

Yeah, but Mali scared the shit out of us and we beat Senegal twice. They had the crowd this time and may have stunned Senegal.

Hmm Mali may have qualified for the world cup if only they avoided Nigeria in the semifinal.

Now we are champions for both men and women afrobasket ball. solala

65; 48

carbonado:
Ngr 62 Sen 45

lol

D Tigress beating Senegal 59/43, Game still on.

Odunayaw:
Jeez why are they always rushing to the media fa

I TIRE, EVERYTHING MEDIA.

TayserMahiri:
Thats ridiculous.

Why?

Muafrika2:
Right now it's the opposition side. It is a coalition supported by various tribes. Its a recent word that has not yet gained as much popularit as Biafra.

Hmm, you guys should dialogue with them before it becomes full blown abeg, it's a major distraction for any nation.

Muafrika2:
Everybody does

Wow, so who wants to secede now and how long has the agitation been? Is it the kikuyi's? Also are they marginalized? Why are they Seceding?
Kikuyi(if l spelt it correctly) is the only tribe l know.

Muafrika2:
Kenyan politics

Do you have secession problems too?

Muafrika2:
There are some advantages and disadvantagesee. And of course afew unknowns. We could end up with an M7. Power corrupts. And these people have been in govt.

The peoples Republic of Kenya will be poorer and will be starting from scratch. I think I would stay in the Central Republic until they get their act together

The advantage is that the Luhya national could finally have a shot at presidency. For now, the contest has been between 3 tribes.

There is also the opportunity to renegotiate a better constitution, social and economic structure.

All these should be Ironed out before going into another country or it could end up being worse.

What are you guys talking about, ayam not understanding again oh.

TayserMahiri:
Seriously??

Yeah

TayserMahiri:
Great bro, I meant socially and culturally there is a connection between Edo and Urhobo (no pun ). Bro did you get my question? In Kenya if you google a tribe you will first learn whether the tribe is Nilotic, Cushitic, Bantu etc. Just google any tribe. For instance; "The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting southern Kenya" That Nilotic part is what am talking about. Many Nigerian tribes are left hanging on that part, you dont get to know whether they're Bantu, nilotic or whatever. In the Case of Urhobo, what are they?

lol pardon me, but I only learnt about the word Bantu mistakenly on the internet sometime ago. Even this Nilotic is a new one to me.

Willie2015:
We like too much theories in Nigeria, we will start complaining when the reality sets in. The US Wiki leak gives a simple summary,

Unfortunately, the Dangote model will likely be the one most emulated until its beggar-thy-countrymen contradictions become more apparent.

So what do we do then, at least here is someone doing something that could have symbiotic benefits. Dangote would not live forever but the refinery would be on Nigerian soil for generations to come not in America, England, etc.