National Telescope national telescope newspaper
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, expressed concern over Nigeria’s currency devaluation, citing it as a major setback for his company in 2023.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Dangote, Chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, highlighted the challenging domestic business environment, exacerbated by the election year and a new government taking office.
Despite these hurdles, Dangote affirmed his conglomerate’s commitment to fulfilling dividend payments this year.
He also noted that numerous Nigerian companies, particularly in the food and beverage sector, faced similar challenges and struggled to distribute dividends.
“We are doing whatever it takes to make sure that at the end of the day, we will be paying dividends because, if you look at our dividends last year, it was almost 50 percent more, so we will try and get out of the mess,” Dangote said.
“The biggest mess created was actually the devaluation of the naira from N460 to N1,400. You can see that almost 97 percent of the companies, especially in food and beverage businesses, will not pay dividends this year for sure, but we will try to get out of it as soon as possible.
“We want to see that at the end of the day, no matter how small, we will be able to pay some dividends, especially if there is a rebound of the naira,” he added.
Dangote revealed a staggering N164 billion foreign exchange loss last year, attributing it to the country’s deteriorating economic conditions, particularly the devaluation of the naira.
