By Abraham Ogbodo
Aliko Dangote is a national asset. He is somebody to crow about outside the shores of Nigeria. I had one golden opportunity in 2013 to do so. It was in Dubai in 2013. Multi-choice had brought us together to discuss arising matters in the digital space. It was tagged ‘Digital Dialogue.’ It was a yearly media meet, sponsored by Multi-choice Nigeria, that brought top journalists from different locations in Africa and in the Middle East to interrogate emerging trends in ICT. On this particular day, the dialogues got a bit off range to create a conviviality that allowed for a dose of cross-national yabis.
There was this fellow from Ghana who had used every opportunity to draw attention to himself. He thought he was the star in the gathering and therefore had the mandate to make declarations that were binding on the team from his own small spot. For about 10 minutes, he ran scathing commentaries on all the faultlines in Nigeria; beginning with the bad leadership, failing physical and social infrastructure and just any other bad aspect of Nigeria that he could remember. He was not just talking but inventing parallels between Nigeria and Ghana to vindicate his value verdict that placed small Ghana above giant Nigeria in all indices of development.
He had enjoyed some ovation. I asked him if he knew Lagos and if he knew also that the economy of the city of Lagos was about the size or even bigger than the economy of Ghana. I did not wait for him to answer. I doubled down on him heavily. I had a clear advantage. I was born in Ghana and can speak passing Twi. My precision in details and description was unsettling. I told him that the outlook of Accra, in its totality, including its upscale Central Business District which accommodates the Dr. Kwame Nkruma Arts Centre, was not any brighter than the outlook of Owerri in Southeast Nigeria. I also reminded him that the Kotoka International Airport was less than a wing at the Murtala Mohammed International or at best, Terminal Two (MM2) of the domestic wing of the Murtala Mohammed airport.
The scales had turned and the fellow wished for an immediate cease-fire. But I needed to score two more points. One, that the wealth of just one Nigerian called Alhaji Aliko Dangote came close to equating the GDP of Ghana. I had fully regained the initiative. The ovation was louder on my side. And finally, I got the fellow to appreciate the fact that Ghana’s financial systems, and by extension, its economy would collapse if Nigerian banks and businesses were to pull out of the country. In the end, the Ghanian chief debater understood a thing or two about the fundamental differences between a political economy and a real economy. He took the low energy in our political leadership as a standard pattern and shut his eyes to our shouting potentials in other areas of life. He was down and out. In a way, my resort to Dangote was a technical knockout. I stood tall in spite of the ugly reality of our political leadership that the fellow had truthfully painted before a global audience.
It was not only in Dubai that I had referenced Dangote. I am always referencing him. I want to be like him when I grow up. His dynamics are complex yet steady. He cannot be captured in a shot. It is even difficult to absorb him completely in a panoramic shot. He is a moving target that assumes forms and styles in anticipation of what lies ahead of him. In other words, he takes his game above surprises so that when affliction arises, he will contain them and still push forward. While merchandising, he had anticipated a life of manufacturing and worked towards it. He is very intentional in value creation. He is doing business and not charity. On the surface therefore, his motivations appear tied to profit and profit alone.
This is the perception that creates all the trouble for Aliko Dangote. He is the richest in Africa. And maybe some people want him to degrade to the poorest in Africa. He does not even know how to tell his intentions. It is the same situation with other investors. The courage to tell non investors that while profit remains a motivation, a much higher motivation for all genuine investors is the desire to create opportunities for others and contribute to public good. The cost of the Dangote Refinery is put at $20 billion. For the point I want to make, just five percent of that amount which is one billion dollars is good. I just want to know if Dangote and his three daughters would be able to finish the arising interest (outside the capital) from $1 billion in a money market investment even if they were to live forever? This is why a genuine investor is a special breed with a special purpose. He or she nurses deeper inclinations to improve the world.
Maybe I should add this to push the point. I retired from active journalism in 2019 after 31 years of practice. I have been combining the cardinal factors of production since my retirement to create sustenance. I know how tough it is in my small world. In comparison, I can sense what Dangote is going through. He is literally experiencing hell just to create opportunities for others. He once joked that Aliba Baba, the head bandit in the Arabian tale was a luckier fellow. Aliba knew the number of his thieves which was only 40. Dangote confessed he doesn’t know the number of his own thieves. They are everywhere around, including regulators.
Having marginally tasted investment myself, I have come to the same point as many others. That in Nigeria, it is better for a man (and woman) to put his money in an interest yielding account and eats it small, small, until he retires permanently. The issues are myriad and Dangote with all his monumentality is getting close to being overwhelmed. The man is battle weary. Frustration is setting in. This matter between him and Ahmed Farouk, the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is a measure of that frustration. I really do not know who advised him to build a refinery with money big enough to build a country of his own. He has not known peace since he started producing the white products which the four national refineries in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri under the management of NNPC, could not produce in 30 years.
It is only in Nigeria that a regulator specifically seeks participation just to frustrate an operator. Every government official in the name of a regulator is a stakeholder in private business that must share in the profit. One report has chronicled all the travails of Dangote in his determination to change the character of the midstream and downstream sectors of the petroleum industry. It is now looking like a crime against the Nigerian State to build a private refinery. From the building of the facility to his operation and continued sustenance, no stage has been smooth for the Kano-born business mogul. If he is not clearing hurdles deliberately placed in his path by industry regulators, he is battling to contain workers unions that have been infiltrated by external forces to make operations difficult at his refinery. This same man who sells in the international market, has even been accused of producing substandard products. On the basis of this, the NMPRA graciously proposed a return to fuel importation to save innocent Nigerians from the bad fuel produced by Dangote Refinery!
Agreed, the man is very big like an elephant. The elephant is an elegant and gentle giant. However, the rules in the jungle do not always respect its size and poise. It must act to continue to stand big. The giant can be taken down in a coordinated attack by some rough-neck carnivores if it chooses to maintain its characteristic gentility in the face of real threat. So it has been with Dangote. This refinery business is bringing out the rough side of this seemingly quiet man. When he was buying and selling rice, sugar, flour and cement, his life was largely peaceful. He never picked quarrels at the current scale and frequency with other industry stakeholders. But since he became born-again and moved from merchandising to manufacturing, he has been forced to assume a new character. He has even become talkative and quarrelsome. He is always explaining to either counter or pre-empt some injurious policy or move by government.
I guess the man has done enough to prove his sincerity of purpose beyond all reasonable doubts. It is not as if the best has happened in energy options and costing in Nigeria, but since the coming on stream of Dangote Refinery, price and supply have been held within a manageable equilibrium. It is either government is not doing well or not communicating well whatever it is doing right. On the matter of fuel affordability, the government has embarrassingly worked itself into the status of public enemy number one. The perception out there is that government is ever scheming to disrupt this fragile balance of convenience between price and availability occasioned by the establishment of Dangote Refinery, to cause Nigerians to pay more for fuel in a country where public electricity is not an option.
Therefore, in the case between Dangote and the State, it would be extremely difficult to picture victory for the latter. Nigerians are the judge and jury. Largely by design, Dangote has been able to make the happiness of Nigerians a corporate priority. On the other hand, government by default, has made the suffering of Nigerians a fundamental objective and directive principle of state policy. This is why DANGOTE VS THE STATE is looking like a case between Angel Michael and Lucifer.
