Africa's Richest Man, Dangote Speaks on Difficulties Travelling Africa With His Nigerian Passport
- Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said that he faces challenges travelling across the continent
- He alleged that a French man, TotalEnergies chief Patrick Pouyanne, is more accessible in the African space
- He also stressed that Nigeria will stop importing fuel when Dangote Refinery commences production of the product
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Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over three years of experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.
The richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote, claims that using his Nigerian passport to travel throughout the continent still presents challenges.
Source: UGC
Dangote recently gave a speech at the Africa CEO Forum Annual Summit in Kigali, Rwanda.
He said:
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“I still complained to President Kagame. I told him that as an investor, I have to apply for 35 different visas on my passport, and I told Mr President, I really don’t have the time to go and drop my passports in embassies to get a visa."
“But you see, the most annoying thing is that yes, if you are treating everybody the same, then I can understand.”
Dangote gave the example of a French passport to illustrate his point, stating that TotalEnergies chief, Patrick Pouyanne can enter African nations with just one of the 35 visas on his French passport.
He said:
“You don’t need 35 visas on your French passport. This means you have a freer movement than myself in Africa.”
Speaking further on businesses within Africa, he said that the primary focus should be to ensure the functioning of the regional markets.
“Once they work, then we can now go to the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). But then, for AfCFTA also, we need to make sure that it works.”
“We cannot have a promising continent, and our intra-trade rate is less than 16 percent. Okay, so we Africans will have to do it. If we are waiting for foreigners to come and do it, both the development of Africa, it’s not going to happen.
“So it can only happen to us Africans. We must risk our sources and make sure that we lead. Then we will have people who actually trust and believe in Africa, like Patrick, come and help us push to the next level.”
The business tycoon also declared on the occasion that once the Dangote Refinery opens in June, Nigeria won't need to import gasoline, according to a The Cable report.
Legit.ng earlier reported that the Nigerian passport has been ranked 191st out of 199 in the December update of the World Passport Index, prepared by VisaGuide.
The ranking shows that Nigeria's passport is among the least powerful in the world, with a score of 11.50.
This indicates that enthusiastic Nigerians who want to travel must pay more or undergo more demanding processing.
Businesses affected as naira hits lowest in history
Legit.ng reported that eight manufacturers, including Dangote, BUA, and Lafarge, experienced foreign exchange-related losses of N627.7 billion in the first quarter of this year.
This is based on examining the companies' financial accounts on the Nigerian Exchange Limited.
According to a Punch report, the companies on the list are International Breweries, Nigerian Breweries, Lafarge Africa Plc, BUA Foods, Nestle Nig, BUA Cement, Dangote Sugar, and BUA Cement.
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Source: Legit.ng
