Nigeria’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has narrated some of his business failures which he blamed on the country’s governmental policies.
Dangote during his keynote speech at the 2024 Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) summit in Abuja said his company lost billions of naira in investment due to his entry into the textile sector.
Behind every success story, there is always that struggle which is not so known to many. Such is the case of some billionaires like Aliko Dangote, who had records of failed businesses before finally becoming Africa’s number one billionaire.
Following the 1960s textile boom, the chairman of the Dangote Group said his company invested billions of naira in the sector and managed two plants, according to a report by TheIndependent.ng.
However, the two plants were shut down because the government did not protect policy decisions.
Dangote stated that he was forced to sell Liberty Merchant Bank for N1.2 billion to cover the pensions and gratuities owed to Nigeria’s textile mill employees.
“When textile businesses were booming, we set up our textile mills called Dangote General Textile Mills in Kano. Then, we massively invested billions at that time.
“We also went and bought the foreign shareholder of Nigeria Textile Mill, which was a textile mill set up for the Western Region by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. That was 1960. At the end of the day, there was no government protection. We had to shut both the two factories.”
The billionaire claimed that the Nigeria Textile Mill presented the most obstacle because most of its employees had been there for 25 to 30 years, making it challenging to pay their pensions and gratuities.
Dangote said: “Luckily for us, somebody now came and said he wanted to buy our bank, Liberty Merchant Bank. By the time we sold Liberty, I cashed out N1.2 billion. After cashing out N1.2 billion, the industry consumed N985 million to pay pensions and gratuities just to get out of the business. That is how we now got out of the business. We burnt our fingers.”
Dangote claimed that even when former President Obasanjo then encouraged him to make investments in the textile sector, he had to decline the suggestion because of his prior experiences.
