Alleged monopoly: Dangote suspends proposed diversification into steel industry, says ‘there are other Nigerians with more cash than I do’

Chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote has said his conglomerate will no longer continue with plans to enter Nigeria’s steel industry.

Dangote’s threat comes two months after his company said it was making plans to invest in the steel industry and expand the economy.

Addressing journalists at his refinery in Lagos on Saturday, the billionaire said the organisation’s board decided to avoid the steel industry “to prevent accusations of being branded a monopoly”.

Dangote also said the claim in some quarters that his group of companies enjoy monopoly is not true.

“You know, about doing a new business which we announced, that is, steel. Actually, our board has decided that we shouldn’t do the steel because if we do the steel business, we will be called all sorts of names like monopoly,” he said.

“And then also, imports will be encouraged. So we don’t want to go into that.

“If you look at all our operations at Dangote (Group), we add value; we take local raw materials and turn them into products, and we sell.

“We have never consciously or unconsciously stopped anybody from doing the same business that we are doing.

“When we first came into cement production, it was only Lafarge that was operating here in Nigeria… Nobody ever called Lafarge a monopoly,” he said.

He said labelling his group of companies as monopolistic is disheartening.

“Monopoly is when you stop people, you block them through legal means. No, it is a level playing field whereby whatever Dangote was given in cement, for example, other people were given because some of them even got more than us,” he added.

Dangote, however, encouraged Nigerians to invest in the industry to help boost the country’s economy.

“Let other Nigerians go and do it. We are not the only Nigerians here. There are some Nigerians with more cash than us,” the billionaire said.

Dangote said people “should bring that money from Dubai and other parts of the world and invest in our fatherland”.