- He said his group of companies had never blocked anyone from doing the same business that they are doing, adding that it’s a level playing ground for everyone
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said it’s unfair for people to attribute the success of his companies to monopoly.
He said claims that his companies enjoy monopoly and preferential treatments from government are totally false.
Dangote made the disclosure on Saturday when he received the leadership of the House of Representatives led by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas and his deputy, Benjamin Kalu.
Africa’s richest man said the labelling of his group of companies as monopolistic is disheartening.
He said his group of companies had never blocked anyone from doing the same business that they were doing, adding that it was a level playing ground for everyone.
Using his cement company as example, he said lafarge has been manufacturing cement long before they came into the industry and no one accused them of monopoly.
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 stopped 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,” he said