I’ve read with either great interest or dismay, several informed and uninformed comments about the current Aliko Dangote – NNPC brouhaha. Make no mistake about it. This is a battle that has gone viral and taken the global business, financial, and diplomatic community by storm.
I cannot ever recall an attempt of this magnitude by a State-owned company such as NNPC that is designed to discourage, discredit, and destroy a business enterprise of this size, influence, and impact. Never.
The NNPC has been quick to roll out its official spokespersons and political and media backers. Their aspersions have been fast and furious. In some instances, their logic and rebuttals have just not sounded credible.
Some members of the public, giddy with delight, continue to denigrate Aliko and the Dangote Group. Rather than deal with the exact and immediate nature of Aliko’s problems with NNPC, they throw up spurious statements about ‘karma,’ and Aliko’s alleged monopolistic business tendencies.
Others, sensing that there is much more to this ugly public spat than meets the eye, have defended Aliko as most right-thinking entrepreneurial and business-minded Nigerians would.
The stakes are high. Whether we like it or not,
1. This is a massive demarketing of Nigeria, investment wise.
Proverbially, money only goes where it is made comfortable. Markets and investment analysts always respond to signals. And this one is not good, nor does it bode well for Nigeria.
Africa and Nigeria, in particular, suffer rightly or wrongly from an asymmetry of perception and information. Ours is a narrative that is in constant need of improvement. Consequently, if you have ever been part of a Nigerian investment roadshow, you will realise how challenging it is to convince global investors that the country is a desirable investment destination.
The current drama plays right into the preconceived narrative about Nigeria – a nation where those who sacrifice, indeed become the sacrifice, as someone has already rightly commented.
2. Outside of the Federal Government of Nigeria, Aliko Dangote is the largest employer of labour in Nigeria. Hundreds of thousands of Nigerians depend on the Dangote Group for jobs and a decent living. They are paid on time and not owed a salary arrears, as is the case with some unmentionables. Many more are direct and indirect beneficiaries of Dangote enterprises across several value chains in the country.
3. In the daily economic, financial, social, and development landscape of Nigeria, Aliko Dangote is a force to be reckoned with. This is an undeniable fact. Referring to Aliko as a ‘monopolist’ in the oil refining business is one of the most laughable comments I have heard.
Aside from the huge financial burden (one that has turned Aliko’s hair completely grey in the span of less than a year), the vision, boldness, and logistical genius that it has taken to set up this refinery, is simply mind-boggling. As a visionary leader and entrepreneur, he has my greatest respect.
Regrettably, Nigeria is one of the only countries I know of where those producing nothing and doing nothing take perverse delight in pulling down the accomplished and successful. I guess doing so psychologically detracts from their own failures or their abject lack of accomplishment. If you have lived, worked, or invested in Nigeria long enough, you will be quite familiar with this phenomenon and those it describes.
At a great cost to Nigerian taxpayers, the country owns and runs four abysmally non-preforming oil refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt, and Warri. Scandalously, for decades, Nigeria has spent millions, if not billions of dollars, ‘upgrading’ these elephant projects to no avail.
What Nigeria has done and continues to do with its oil sector is a scandal of epic proportions. We are one of the world’s leading producers of crude oil, yet it has pleased and profited some to ensure that Nigeria daily exports its raw crude and then re-imports it into the country as refined finished products. Sometimes, Nigeria’s reality is stranger than fiction. But then, sadly, it is what it is.
The cost to Nigeria in lost revenues, foreign exchange, jobs, and business opportunities is unquantifiable. Yet, the status quo means nothing to some, nor does it move the hearts of the powers that be. For many, the end justifies the means … whatever means possible.
Caught in the middle are millions of Nigerians who daily suffer the indignity of poverty in the midst of plenty. That is the tragedy of Nigeria and the current spat between two key players.
The saga provides his Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR), whose mercurial business mindset is legendary, the opportunity to –
* Wade in, intervene, calm nerves, and ensure peace prevails.
* Sanitise Nigeria’s oil sector (a perennial challenge that I am sure even Angels will ask God to be reassigned from), and
* Quickly bolster global investor confidence.
I wish the Federal Government, the Dangote, Group, and the good people of Nigeria, all the best.
-Victor Oladokun
Senior Advisor to the President for Communication and Stakeholder Engagement, African Development Bank Group.
