Photo caption: Aliko Dangote
Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said he plans to invest more than $10bn in the power sector over the next few years to help address Africa’s electricity deficit.
Dangote disclosed this in an interview with Al Jazeera uploaded to its website on Monday, where he said access to reliable electricity was critical to economic growth and development across the continent.
He said the investment would form part of efforts to drive a major transformation in Africa over the next three to four years.
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.”
Explaining the planned investment, Dangote said, “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.”
Dangote said Africa’s electricity deficit remained a major obstacle to development, noting that more than 600 million Africans were still without access to electricity.
He said, “It is something that we Africans should not really allow. Over 600 million of our people to remain in darkness.”
The businessman also linked access to electricity with the performance of political leaders, arguing that delivering reliable power could reduce the need for politicians to campaign extensively for re-election.
He said, “You know, as some politicians, if they work hard, they have a plan, when you deliver power, you don’t need to go for campaign when you’re going for the election.”
Dangote stressed that electricity was fundamental to economic growth and industrial development.
He said, “So power is key. We will never, ever create growth without power.”
“So that’s why they say, power is growth,” he added.
