Chidi Samuel
Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote believe that best way out of the current economic crisis is for the country to sell some its assets in an open and transparent process. The business mogul particularly mentioned some joint national assets like The African finance corporation established in 2007 worth over $800 million and the 100 percent stake in Nigeria LNG limited.
“I think the real challenge for us is now for us to have the political will in terms of selling some assets,” he told the Consumer News and Business Channels (CNBC) Africa in an interview.
“I think it’s an easier route than the IMF (International Monetary Fund) or the World Bank to borrow money, because what you need to do is actually to beef up the reserves.”
“If I had challenges in my company, I would not hesitate to sell assets, to remain afloat, to get to the better times, because it doesn’t make any sense for me to keep any assets and then suffocate the whole organization,” Dangote said.
He granted the interview before before Nigeria’s credit rating was downgraded to B from B+ by S&P Global Ratings yesterday.
S & P branded the economy “weakened more than we expected owing to a marked contraction in oil production, a restrictive foreign exchange regime and delayed fiscal stimulus.
Dangote noted that the economy should have been diversified a long time ago but was however optimistic that Nigeria would exit recession by the last quarter of the year and said the country “has all the answers” to its current challenges.