Ebun Francis || The CEO of Dangote Group and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote on Wednesday in New York said that the only way to wean African countries away from over-dependent on oil is for the price of the product to remain low and that Nigeria must produce 5 of the 12 million jobs needed for Africa to make progress.
The Kano State born billionaire has therefore urged Africans to pray that oil prices remain low.
Dangote spoke at a meeting with had high-level business leaders and international diplomats organised by the Corporate Council for Africa at the headquarters of global law firm, Shearman and Sterling LLC.
Alongside Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, Dangote emphasised the need for heavy investments in education, “particularly for young people to be well-trained for the jobs of tomorrow”.
He said, “We should pray that oil prices remain low. This helps wean us off the dependency on revenues from petroleum.”
“We must take oil to be the icing on the cake. We already have the cake – agriculture, agriculture, agriculture. Africa will become the food basket of the world.”
According to Dangote, for the continent to make meaningful progress Nigeria must produce five out of the 12 million jobs needed in Africa.
He cited the success story of Rwanda an example of the positive changes taking place in Africa, stating that corruption “had been cured” in the eastern Africa country.
He, therefore, urged investors to visit Africa.
He said, “Go there (Africa) and find out the real story for yourself. Things have changed”
With agency report