There are better days ahead for business community in Nigeria- Dangote

President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has said that there are better days ahead for the business community in Nigeria, even as the nation sets for gubernatorial elections on March 9, 2019.

Dangote said there is a lot happening in Nigeria, and elections did not deter his companies from investing in the country.

“I think from the business community, things are going to continue to grow in terms of trajectory. When I say it; I mean there are quite a lot of things that are happening in Nigeria,” he told Channels TV.

“We didn’t really bother whether election period or not, we have been investing heavily in the country and we would continue to invest. I think we would have better days ahead.”

The businessman, who recently became one of the top 70 billionaires in the world, named as the world’s 23rd billionaire, jumping 39 spots on the scale from his previous 103rd position among the elite club of the world’s richest people.

Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a yearly ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. The index showed that Dangote’s wealth moved from $10.5bn at the end of last year to a low of $9.63bn on January 1, 2019.

Dangote, 61, a week ago gained $5.8bn within 24 hours as his total net worth rose to $16.6bn on Tuesday.

According to Bloomberg, the index also revealed that his net worth increased by 23 per cent from $13.5bn on February 26, 2018, to $16.6bn, raising his wealth by 58 per cent this year.

Dangote has emerged the second biggest mover after Andrew Forrest, founder and largest shareholder of Fortescue Metals Group, the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer whose wealth has grown by 59 per cent this year.

He is the only Nigerian and the only member of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index from one of the 60 poorest countries.

Other Africans with a representative on the Bloomberg wealth ranking are all from South Africa. Nicky Oppenheimer ranked 216th with a net worth of $7.05bn, luxury tycoon Johann Rupert ranked 225th with $6.92bn wealth, and property and wholesaling mogul Natie Kirsh ranked 263rd, with a net worth of $6.10bn.

All three have extensive holdings outside Africa.

“Dangote controls Dangote Industries, a closely held conglomerate. The Lagos-based company owns sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cement producer, Dangote Cement, which had a profit after tax closed 2018 at N390.3 billion as against N204.2 billion recorded in 2017 while profit before tax was N300.8 billion for the period ended 2018, a 3.9per cent increase from N289.59 billion reported for the period ended December 2017.

The company directors proposed a dividend of N16 per share for 2018 financial year.

Across Africa, the cement Group posted combined revenue of N901.21 billion, with Nigerian operations doing N618.30 billion, representing an increase of 11.9 per cent over N552.36 billion in 2017.

The Nigerian economy was earlier projected to have grown by 1.9 per cent in 2017, meaning that Dangote Cement outperformed the domestic economy.

Pan-African operations recorded revenues of N263.26 billion, an increase of 9.6 per cent over N258.44 billion posted in the corresponding period in 2017.