Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has called on African nations to stop the cycle of exporting raw materials and start building value-added economies that create jobs and drive inclusive growth.
Speaking at the Afreximbank Annual Meetings in Abuja on Thursday, Dangote issued a rousing appeal for local industrialisation, stronger institutions, and a collective belief in Africa’s capacity to chart its own course.
“The one way for us to make Africa great is for us to produce minerals before they are exported, so that we can actually create jobs,” Dangote said. “Because the issue is that if we remain a dumping ground, we will never be able to create jobs.”
He underscored the continent’s vast mineral wealth ranging from gold and lithium to diamonds and urged policymakers and investors to set clear conditions that support local processing and economic transformation.
“We have all the mineral sources of gold, lithium, diamonds everything. We have it here. So, all what you need to do is to start giving conditions to people,” he said. “Let us make our continent a productive continent; we are the only continent that actually has growth.”
Referencing the dramatic expansion of Nigeria’s cement industry from 1.9 million tonnes to over 60 million tonnes annually, Dangote cited it as a model for local investment and ownership. He revealed plans to list his fertiliser and refinery businesses as part of a broader strategy to deepen local participation and drive economic competition.
“If it’s America First, then it must be Africa First,” he declared. “We need to understand that we are the only people that can make Africa great. Nobody will do that for us.”
He urged Africans to believe in their own capacity to transform the continent, insisting that the time has come for bold action rooted in self-reliance.
“We need to make sure that we concentrate, we believe in our own continent.”
Dangote’s remarks echo a growing continental consensus that Africa’s path to prosperity lies not in aid or dependency but in local value chains, homegrown enterprises, and a confident, self-led economic future.
