Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has disclosed that the Federal Government did not give him any incentive to build his $20 billion refinery located at the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
He stated that he paid $100 million for the land the refinery was built on.
Dangote disclosed this on Saturday when he received the leadership of the House led by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and his deputy Benjamin Kalu.
According to him, “In the refinery, we did not, and I repeat, we did not collect one single incentive from the Federal Government of Nigeria or even Lagos State. Yes, the Lagos State gave us a good deal but we paid $100m for the land. It wasn’t a free land; we paid for it.
“Majority of the population are with us. So, we are not discouraged, we will continue what we are doing.”
Speaking further, Dangote said the claim in some quarters that his group of companies enjoy monopoly is not true.
He said, “If you look at all our operations at Dangote (Group), we add value; we take local raw materials and turn them into products, and we sell.
“We have never consciously or unconsciously stop anybody from doing the same business that we are doing.
“When we first came into cement production, it was only Lafarge that was operating here in Nigeria…Nobody ever called Lafarge a monopoly,” he said, adding that labelling his group of companies as monopolistic is disheartening.
“Monopoly is when you stop people, you block them through legal means. No, it is a level playing field whereby whatever Dangote was given in cement, for example, other people were given because some of them even got more than us.”
