Nigerians blast Dangote for saying devaluation of naira is a ‘mess’

Nigerians have berated Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Industries Limited, for stating that the devaluation of the naira in 2023 by the federal government is a “mess.”

Chronicle NG reports that Dangote stated that the naira devaluation had a severe negative impact on his company in 2023.

He made the remarks on Tuesday as he addressed guests at Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc’s annual general assembly.

Dangote stated that the company is aggressively working to deliver dividends this year.

He said that many businesses, notably those in the food and beverage industry, have been affected and may have difficulties issuing dividends.

“We are doing whatever it takes to make sure that at the end of the day, we will be paying dividends because, if you look at our dividends last year, they were almost 50 percent more, so we will try and get out of the mess.”

“The biggest mess created was actually the devaluation of the naira from N460 to N1,400.

“You can see that almost 97 percent of the companies, especially in food and beverage businesses, will not pay dividends this year for sure, but we will try to get out of it as soon as possible.

“We want to see that at the end of the day, no matter how small, we will be able to pay some dividends, especially if there is a rebound of the naira.”

In reaction to Dangote’s statement, Sunday Chukwuma, an X user, notes that “he cried out because he is also affected. All his foreign loans will be paid at the current rate unless hedged.”

Another X user, Olusegun, mentioned that, “Well, he was alleged to have benefitted immensely from Emefelie’s dual exchange rates. He was able to get dollars at affordable prices from the CBN, while other businesses had to source their forex from the black market. I am not surprised he is not cool with the floating.”

Chukwunyere described the business mugul as “very greedy” when he said, So greedy, very greedy when it affects him, he complains, but he had forgotten he is the highest industrial monopolist and a capitalist in our society. What did you do when Bahari messed everything up and allowed you to only export and import some commodities alone?”

In his reaction, Jasper Ume alleged that Dangote should also be blamed for Nigeria’s woes.

“Even though you say this is part of Nigeria’s problems, monopolising every commodity in Nigeria without market force competitions can never make the Nigerian economy grow, and without a wider scope for food production, it can’t strengthen the naira. It’s all about demand and supply of marketing,” Ume pointed out.

An X handle Onion (@Onionniinja) mentioned that “Even though what Dangote said is true, he’s the wrong person to say it. He is a is a cold-blooded businessman who cares only about himself and his masters in government. He’s a billionaire today because he is hugely subsidised by the federal government.”

For Arukwe Sunday, he alleged that Dangote “is the part of the system that crashed the naira; when he was chairman of the stock exchange, he single-handedly bought up all the dollars there as chairman; he is chairman of money laundering.”