The President of the Dangote
Group, Aliko Dangote, says the availability of consumer credit facility is an
important option in fighting corruption in the country.
Mr Dangote said this on Saturday
in Lagos at a consultative roundtable titled, “Going for Growth” with some
economic stakeholders.
He said that the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) and commercial banks should develop consumer credit products to
encourage low-income earners to engage in loan taking.
He also identified a lack of
policy implementation as the biggest challenge in the country.
“How do you have economic growth
without power? So, no power, no growth because without power there can’t be
growth.
“Egypt increased its electricity
by 10 gigawatts, which is equivalent to 10,000 megawatts in 18 months.
“In Nigeria, we have been
struggling for 18 years without adding 1,000 megawatts and we have spent about
three times above Egypt, why?
“So, I think we all need to be
concerned about that.”
Mr Dangote advised that the
country needed to promote import substitution for foreign exchange accumulation
through proceeds from exports.
He called for a public-private
partnership to boost the non-oil sector of the economy and added that Nigerians
should invest in the development of the non-oil sector which had been left in
the hands of foreigners.
“Government need to encourage
non-oil sector growth rather than depending on proceeds from crude oil to pay
salaries.
“Proceeds from crude oil sale
should be for major investment in the country,” he added.
He urged the federal government
to improve more on the power sector, saying “no business will thrive with
business owners generating powers themselves.”
Mr Dangote said that all
stakeholders must come together and support the government in finding a
solution to power challenges in the country.
Apart from power, Mr Dangote
suggested that government focuses more on three areas which include finance,
manufacturing and agriculture.
According to him, Asian Tigers
concentrated on these three sectors for them to be where they are.
He further urged the government
to focus more on the fiscal policies for the country to move to the next level.
The business mogul said by next year,
the country would have exported eight million tonnes of cement to African
countries from the present six million tonnes.
Mr Dangote added that Nigeria
would also be the biggest exporter of fertilizers in Sub-Sahara Africa.
Also speaking, the Chairman of
Zenith Bank Plc, Jim Ovia, noted that government policies had supported the
production of petroleum, cement and fertilizers.
Mr Ovia commended the government
on broadband penetration in the country, saying it had boosted banking
activities.
He supported Dangote on the need
for consumer credit and said banks were doing their best on it.
Mr Ovia, however. noted that the
process had been slow because of the challenges associated with people given
accurate data for Know-Your Customers (KYC) process.
Also, the former Managing
Director of Stanbic IBTC, Peterside Atedo, urged the CBN to continue with the
effort taken in reducing inflation rate from 18 per cent to as low as 11.37 per
cent as at April 2019.
Mr Peterside said the CBN should
use the same pace to bring the country’s inflation rate to a single digit.
(NAN)
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