98 percent of milk consumed in Nigeria is imported–Dangote

At the Financial Times’ 4th annual Africa Summit held at Claridges in London, Lionel Barber, editor in chief, had a chat with Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote.
The chat took place in the presence of Nigerian vice-president Yemi Osingajo, Congolese presidential hopeful Moise Katumbi, and other business leaders.
Dangote said he has an interest in the dairy industry, given that 98 percent of all milk consumed in Nigeria is imported.
He said he sees massive opportunities in the agriculture space, stating that the key to his business success are self-sufficiency and backward integration.
“We are not going to import anything any longer,” he said, as reported by David Applefield, APO Group’s special envoy to the FT Africa Summit.
“In Nigeria we are learning how to produce the entire value chain.”
Once a heavy importer of fertilizer, Nigeria is now gearing up to produce 3 million tonnes of locally manufactured fertilizer, which will make Africa’s biggest economy largest fertilizer producer in the continent.
In 2007 Nigeria was the second largest importer of cement after the US, Dangote said, adding that currently, he has not only satisfied domestic needs but has become a leading exporter of six to seven million tonnes of cement.
He is also pumped huge sums of money into rice production, investing in local farmers and offering to buy back the 1 million tonnes at open market prices that they are growing. He is pumping over $1 billion into rice production.
According to him, his firm will soon be able to feed not only Nigeria but the entire 350 million ECOWAS market.
“Are we going to continue to import everything?” Dangote asked. “Freight rates are now cheap but they will go up soon. A population of over 200 million cannot continue to import basic needs on a daily basis,” he stated.

Dangote said that by 2100, Africa will represent 49 percent of the world’s population, up from 30 percent today, stressing that if the people do not think big, they will not grow at all.
Dangote stated that Nigeria has enormous untapped opportunities, saying that he will always pick the country ahead of any other.
He argued that the citizens of Nigeria have only used eight percent of the country’s land, which is just a scratch in the pan.

ODINAKA ANUDU