The business magnate, Aliko Dangote has advised President Mohammadu Buhari to sell LNG as a way of boosting the economy which is currently under recession.
He made this statement while speaking with CNBC Africa on Friday. “I think the real challenge for us is now for us to have the political will in terms of selling some assets,”
He implored the government to sell assets in some of its joint ventures with the private sector in an open tender process. He said that Africa Finance Corporation – a development finance institution established in 2007 – would fetch close to $800 million. He said policymakers should also look to sell 100 percent of the country’s stake in Nigeria LNG Limited, a natural resources firm.
“I think it’s an easier route than the IMF (International Monetary Fund) or the World Bank to borrow money, because what you need to do is actually to beef up the reserves.”
Nigeria’s economy is set to contract on an annual basis in 2016 for the first time in 21 years, with its all-important oil industry suffering under weak global prices. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) dropped by 2.06 percent in the second quarter of 2016, after falling 0.36 percent in the previous three months.
Meanwhile Forbes has ranked the business magnate, Dangote as richest man in Africa. He owns Dangote Group, the biggest manufacturing conglomerate in West Africa .
He decried the over reliance of Nigeria to oil which made the country not to have diversified . He expressed hope that Nigeria will recover from the recession in the fourth quarter of the year.
“If I had challenges in my company, I would not hesitate to sell assets, to remain afloat, to get to the better times, because it doesn’t make any sense for me to keep any assets and then suffocate the whole organization,” Dangote said..
