The President of Dangote Group and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has canvassed for the removal of some of the barriers that hinder the growth of the non-oil sector, which include granting tax holidays for businesses.

According to CEOAFRICA’s source, Daily trust, He said for the government to create an enabling environment that would encourage both local and foreign investors to set up businesses, there was also need to improve the state of infrastructure in the country, and provision of more access to credit facilities.

A statement from Dangote group yesterday said Dangote, who spoke at the Executive Course No. 38, 2016 at the  National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Kuru, near Jos, Plateau State lamented that more than 100 million out of a population of 187 million Nigerians were wallowing in  poverty.

 Delivering a paper on ‘Promotion of Local Manufacturing and Poverty Reduction In Nigeria: The Private Sector Experience and Policy Options’, the foremost entrepreneur lamented that “It is a curious paradox that Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, and the largest economy on the continent, also has one of the highest levels of poverty.

“It is estimated that more than 100 million out of a population of 187 million Nigerians, live below the poverty line.” Quoting a United Nations (UN) report, Dangote said youth unemployment rose to 42 percent in 2016 with many graduates combing the streets in major cities such as Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt in search of often-elusive white-collar jobs while for some who are employed, their situation can best be described as that of under-employment, as they are underutilised and poorly paid.

This situation, he said, no doubt has serious security implications, as evidenced by the high rate of social ills plaguing the nation. “The spate of kidnapping, intermittent vandalism of petroleum pipelines in the Niger Delta, and the protracted insurgency in the North East, are all fuelled, to a large extent, by the high level of endemic poverty in the country.” 

Dangote pointed out that the current economic recession has further worsened the situation, as the government continues to record dwindling revenues thus making it increasingly difficult for it to fulfil some of its obligations to the people.