Aliko Dangote says he is prepared to redirect billions of dollars into Africa’s power sector, even if that means walking away from some planned businesses.
Speaking in an interview with Al Jazeera, Dangote said the next three to four years could bring major changes across Africa, but he believes electricity will have to be at the centre of that transformation.
He said:
“I’m telling you, in the next, three, four years, there will be a major transformation in Africa. And that’s why we’re looking at power, for example.”
He said the Dangote Group is considering dropping one or two businesses and using the money instead to build up its power investments.
“We are going to invest in power. We want to, actually, there is one or two businesses that we might cancel, like steel, and we will put in the money. We want to invest over $10 billion alone in power”, he stated.
For Dangote, the scale of Africa’s electricity problem makes the investment necessary. He pointed to the millions of Africans who still do not have access to electricity.
“It is something that we Africans should not really allow. Over 600 million of our people to remain in darkness”, he said.
He also tied electricity directly to economic growth, saying industries cannot expand and create jobs without reliable power.
“So power is key. We will never, ever create growth without power. So that’s why they say, power is growth. When I say power, I mean electricity is growth”, Dangote added.
The proposed investment would put power alongside Dangote’s existing interests in areas such as oil refining, cement and fertiliser, while the steel business could be one of the projects sacrificed to free up capital for the electricity push.
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