* Upbeat about turnaround of nation’s economy
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
The Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has stressed that his company, Dangote Petroleum’s ability to sell diesel at significantly discounted prices will provide immediate relief to Nigeria’s inflation woes.
Speaking with newsmen Wednesday after visiting President Bola Tinubu in Lagos, Dangote expressed optimism about the economy, noting that the naira exchange rate has improved significantly in recent times, dropping from around N1,900 to the dollar to the current level of N1,250-N1,300.
According to him, this is already having a positive impact, with the price of locally-produced goods like flour starting to come down as businesses pay less for diesel.
The African richest man revealed that his refinery has been selling diesel at N1,200 per litre, compared to the previous market price of N1,650-N1,700, adding that he is expecting dramatic reduction in fuel costs to help drive down inflation in the coming months.
He said: “There’s quite a lot of improvement because if you look at it here, one of the major issues that we’ve had was the narrow devaluation that has gone very aggressively up to about N1,900. But right now, we’re back to almost N1,250, N1,300, which is a good improvement.
“And you can see quite a lot of things have actually gone down. Even people now when you go to the market, for example, something that will produce locally like a flour or whatever, people will charge you more.
“Why? Because they’re paying very high prices on diesel. And what we did, for example, in our refinery, we started selling even diesel at about 1,200 for 1,650. And I’m sure, you know, as we go along, things will continue to improve quite a lot.
“Well, even now, it’s a lot of impact. If you look at it now, when you are buying N1,650, 1,700 for a litre of diesel, and that one has been cut off by almost one third to now be paying diesel at N1,200.
“And may be eventually going forward, even though the crude prices are going up, even with that, I believe people will not get it much higher than what it is today.
“N1,200, it might be even a little bit lower. But that can help quite a lot. Because if you are transporting locally produced goods, rice and other stuff, you are paying N1,650. Now you are paying two thirds of that amount, N1,200. It’s a lot. It’s a lot of difference. People don’t know.
“That can actually help to bring inflation down immediately. And I’m sure when the inflation figures are out for the next month, you see that there’s quite a lot of improvement in the inflation rate.
“So one step at a time. And I’m sure the government is working around the clock to make sure that things get much better.
Because it’s in their own interest. It’s in the interest of everybody, It’s in our own interest, and I just want to thank everybody for things to get better.”
Dangote urged captains of industry to partner with the government to improve the lives of Nigerian citizens.
His words: “You can’t clap with one hand. So both the entrepreneurs and the government need to clap together and make sure that it is in the best interest of everybody.”
