Elegbede Abiodun
Says importing finished products into Nigeria is equivalent to importing poverty, inflation, and unemployment.
Founder and President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, at the weekend, has pledged to construct a hostel valued at ₦550 million for the students at Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State.
He equally donated N25 million to the students of the institution via their Student Union Government.
Dangote was at the institution to deliver a public lecture on Enterprise, Leadership, and Service to Humanity.
The hostel, when completed, will help to alleviate the shortage of accommodation for students of FUTO.
In his presentation, the foremost industrialist encouraged the students with the history of his humble beginning in business as a distributor of bagged cement and other items.
He said that despite making money by trading in commodities, he decided to embark on a backward integration process, producing locally those goods he used to import.
He started that importing finished products into Nigeria is equivalent to importing poverty, inflation, and unemployment, while exporting raw materials.
Importation of finished products creates jobs, prosperity, and development in the exporting countries, he added.
According to him, the decision to embrace manufacturing is to create jobs and add value to the raw materials that were usually exported.
He said a major key in industrialization is looking inwards, that investors in the industrial sector should come from the citizens. He added that he refuses to invest in Nigeria and Africa; no foreign investor will be willing to stake their funds here.
Drawing examples from Asia, he said, ‘Asian economies are powered by Asians, not foreign investment. They are the ones who invested in their countries. They did not wait for foreigners to come and develop their economies.’
Turning to the students, he said Nigerian youths are endowed with an innovative spirit and could hold their own anywhere around the globe.
He stated that many fresh graduates of engineering who were recruited and trained by Dangote Refinery and Fertiliser have been poached by companies in the Gulf region who treat them as expatriates.
He said, “We face significant economic and social challenges, but we also sit on enormous opportunity: a young and energetic population, abundant natural resources, and an entrepreneurial spirit that is unmatched across the continent.
In my own journey through business and industry, entrepreneurship has shown itself to be one of the most powerful tools for transforming challenges into opportunities.
When young people are equipped with technical skills, mentorship, and access to capital, they do not just seek jobs – they create them.
They build enterprises that diversify our economy beyond oil, strengthen local industries, and fuel sustainable development.”
He challenged the students to be innovative and creative, ready to learn and adapt as to be able to add value to society.
Drawing examples from China, he told the students that China has the highest number of people in the engineering field, which has made the country the leading centre of manufacturing and industrial development.
