Dangote Sounds Alarm Over Port Shortage in West, Central Africa
Aliko Dangote (left) and the Managing Director of NPA, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho at the mid-year board meeting of PMAWCA in Lagos on Monday
—Takes Port Push Beyond Nigeria, Seals Tanzania Deal
By DAPO OLAWUNI
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, has declared that port infrastructure has become a core strategic focus for the conglomerate as it moves to position itself as the continent’s leading logistics provider, warning that West and Central Africa face a critical shortage of port facilities.
Dangote spoke on Monday in Lagos at the opening ceremony of the Mid-Year Board meeting of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) hosted by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
“Port infrastructure is one of the key infrastructure of the Dangote Group, and we are going to chase that aggressively,” he said.
The business mogul disclosed that Dangote Group is currently pursuing port development projects in multiple African countries, including Nigeria and Tanzania, as part of an ambitious continental logistics expansion drive. He revealed that the group recently concluded discussions with the President of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan over plans to develop a port in that country.
On the proposed Olokola Deep Seaport, Dangote said construction is expected to commence before the end of the year, pending government approval.
“We are building the Olokola Deep Seaport, we are going to build the largest and deepest seaport in Africa and that would happen in Olokola. We are going to start hopefully this year as soon as we get approval from the government,” he said.
He also assured stakeholders that the Lekki Free Trade Zone port project would surpass every existing seaport on the continent upon completion.
“I can assure you that Lekki Free Trade Zone would be the largest and deepest seaport in Africa, not just West Africa,” he said, commending the Managing Director of the NPA for championing the project’s development.
Dangote stressed that the private sector, not government, should be driving port development across the region, calling on entrepreneurs to take advantage of the investment gap.
“I want to encourage people to come and invest because we are running short of ports in West and Central Africa. In some areas where we have gone to discharge our goods, especially in Cote d’Ivoire, we need to try to encourage entrepreneurs to invest. Government has no business in building ports, what you need to do is to encourage entrepreneurs to invest so that your revenue would increase. You should be collecting revenues and not building ports,” he said.
He noted that the current infrastructure deficit was already taking a toll on business operations, with vessels sometimes forced to wait for days before berthing.
“Some of us have to wait for days, and this is making our business very difficult. I think there is need for more private sector investment, it is not the duty of government,” he said.
Dangote said the Group’s growing involvement in port development marks a deliberate strategic shift.
“Before now, we were doing it as part of our operations, but right now, going forward, we would be the biggest Africa supplier of logistics,” he said.
