Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said he is not the one preventing the Federal Government from signing the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, AfCFTA.
Dangote made the clarification while speaking in a panel session at the just concluded Africa Trade forum held in Lagos and sponsored by the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Rockefeller Foundation.
“I was in another forum recently and when the Ghanaian president was asked why the AfCFTA has not been signed by Nigeria and he pointed at me, he said they should ask me.
“We as Dangote will benefit the most because we are into production of petroleum, petrochemicals, cement and fertiliser, so nobody in Africa will benefit more than Dangote,” he stated.
He argued that Nigeria is not against the AfCFTA either, pointing out that the regional economic block needs to function properly before a continent wide agreement can prosper.
“We created the Economic Community of West African States in 1975, but today, it is not working. To take our cement to Ghana today, we pay 38 taxes: 13 in Benin Republic, 15 in Togo and 10 in Ghana. These increase our cost by 28 per cent,” Dangote said.
He decried the neglect of critical stakeholders in other African countries in the build up to the signing of the agreement.