Dangote urges more patience for turnaround of economy

President of Dangote Group, Alhaji  Aliko Dangote has commended Nigerians for their resilience and doggedness even in the face of prevailing economic challenges saying they have made sacrifices that would soon see nation out of the woods.

He gave the advice and commendation when members of small and medium enterprises operators met with him in Lagos during the festive period, saying that Nigerians have demonstrated the capacity to face challenges, be undaunted and tackle them headlong.

He said some countries have been thrown into upheaval at the slightest economic downturn rather than joining hands together to solve the economic problems.

He explained that what Nigeria was going through though painful but at the end of the day would make the nation a better self reliant economic power house.

He urged the people to continue to join hands with the government in finding lasting solution to the problems, saying Nigeria will be better off adding that most countries in the world which have attained economic buoyancy have at one time in their history faced economic hardship.

According to him, “Thank God in our own situation, we know where the problem lies and as such we only need to muster the courage to apply solution. Nigeria needs to look inward and produce what we consume as opposed to incessant importation which takes away our forex.

“This is one of the fundamental problems of our country, we import just anything and the reality is dawn on us now that we have to change this habit, this is why the federal government has been emphasising the need to go back to agriculture and total manufacturing so that we also can produce what we need and even export rather than import, he said.

Dangote said not until Nigeria becomes a producing nation and reduce import; her economy would continue to grope in the dark. He said that his company would continue to take the lead in any sector that requires the nation to look inward.

He said Nigeria has no business importing some products, especially the ones that she has abundant raw materials to produce. He  gave an example of milk lamented that 80 per cent of milk consumed in Nigeria is imported, a situation he described as unacceptable, given that the nation has all it takes to produce milk locally and even feed other countries.

Dangote, therefore, promised that he would be venturing into diary production to reverse the trend saying Nigeria can produce the amount of milk needed for her citizenry.

He therefore urged the people to continue to be patient and cooperate with the government at all levels while all hands are on deck to bring Nigeria back to a path of sufficiency and economic buoyancy.