Aliko Dangote, president of of Dangote Group, has
dismissed that he is planning to buy one of
Nigeria’s national assets, the Nigeria Liquefied
Natural Gas (NLNG).
Dangote noted this while speaking to THISDAY
reacting to criticism that have trailed his
advocacy for the sale of national assets.
In an interview with CNBC Africa, the billionaire
had said the government would be able to raise
between $12 billion and $15 billion from the sale
of the company.
“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 organisation,” he had said.
“The African Finance Corporation… it can fetch
them $800 million easily. My own suggestion
before was that they should even sell 100 percent
of NLNG. I don’t think government should be in
any business of investing in sectors of LNG.
“A company like that, with earnings of $1.5 billion
on the average, they should get anywhere
between $12 billion and $15 billion.”
The comment had generated reactions, with some
saying the billionaire was interested in buying the
company.
But Dangote waved aside the criticisms, saying
he offered the suggestions as “a true Nigerian
who really wants the issues about the economy to
be sorted out”.>
“You know the issue, once your reserves are low,
the banks, entrepreneurs, including external
forces, would definitely attack your currency. They
would speculate on your currency,” he said.
“We all know that the exchange rate of almost
N500 to the dollar is not a true reflection of the
value of the currency – the naira cannot be
almost N500 to the dollar!
“But you see, if this thing is not handled properly,
it can get out of hand. It can get to N600 to the
dollar, or even N700 to the dollar.
“But the issue is, why did I suggest that we
should sell some of the assets? I know the touchy
one is the NLNG. I want to make it categorically
clear that even if the government is selling NLNG
on credit, I am not interested in buying.
“I don’t have any interest in NLNG and I will not
buy it. It is not a business that I want to invest
in. It is a mature business; that is what people
don’t understand.
“You see, we should have invested heavily in all
these Brass LNG, Olokola LNG, etc, when former
President Olusegun Obasanjo started work on the
projects, but we missed the opportunity.
“Today, you have massive LNG projects that have
been done by Qatar, Australia and the United
States is also exporting. But right now, all the
gas that we have is even in the ground. Even
Mozambique has a massive amount of gas and
also Tanzania, and they are nearer to the markets
than we are.
“So, if somebody is even going to invest in LNG,
he would go to those areas and invest there and
not here in Nigeria, because the investment here
is daunting. So my own suggestion is that even if
we must sell, it doesn’t have to be 100 per cent
of our interest in NLNG.”
Aliko Dangote, president of of Dangote Group, has
dismissed that he is planning to buy one of
Nigeria’s national assets, the Nigeria Liquefied
Natural Gas (NLNG).
Dangote noted this while speaking to THISDAY
reacting to criticism that have trailed his
advocacy for the sale of national assets.
In an interview with CNBC Africa, the billionaire
had said the government would be able to raise
between $12 billion and $15 billion from the sale
of the company.
“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 organisation,” he had said.
“The African Finance Corporation… it can fetch
them $800 million easily. My own suggestion
before was that they should even sell 100 percent
of NLNG. I don’t think government should be in
any business of investing in sectors of LNG.
“A company like that, with earnings of $1.5 billion
on the average, they should get anywhere
between $12 billion and $15 billion.”
The comment had generated reactions, with some
saying the billionaire was interested in buying the
company.
But Dangote waved aside the criticisms, saying
he offered the suggestions as “a true Nigerian
who really wants the issues about the economy to
be sorted out”.>
“You know the issue, once your reserves are low,
the banks, entrepreneurs, including external
forces, would definitely attack your currency. They
would speculate on your currency,” he said.
“We all know that the exchange rate of almost
N500 to the dollar is not a true reflection of the
value of the currency – the naira cannot be
almost N500 to the dollar!
“But you see, if this thing is not handled properly,
it can get out of hand. It can get to N600 to the
dollar, or even N700 to the dollar.
“But the issue is, why did I suggest that we
should sell some of the assets? I know the touchy
one is the NLNG. I want to make it categorically
clear that even if the government is selling NLNG
on credit, I am not interested in buying.
“I don’t have any interest in NLNG and I will not
buy it. It is not a business that I want to invest
in. It is a mature business; that is what people
don’t understand.
“You see, we should have invested heavily in all
these Brass LNG, Olokola LNG, etc, when former
President Olusegun Obasanjo started work on the
projects, but we missed the opportunity.
“Today, you have massive LNG projects that have
been done by Qatar, Australia and the United
States is also exporting. But right now, all the
gas that we have is even in the ground. Even
Mozambique has a massive amount of gas and
also Tanzania, and they are nearer to the markets
than we are.
“So, if somebody is even going to invest in LNG,
he would go to those areas and invest there and
not here in Nigeria, because the investment here
is daunting. So my own suggestion is that even if
we must sell, it doesn’t have to be 100 per cent
of our interest in NLNG.”
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