Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has announced plans to invest more than $10bn in Africa’s power sector over the next few years to help address the continent’s electricity deficit and drive economic growth.
Dangote made the disclosure in an interview with Al Jazeera published on Monday, where he stressed the importance of reliable electricity to Africa’s industrial and economic development.
The billionaire businessman said the planned investment would form part of a broader effort to drive significant transformation across the continent within the next three to four years.
“I’m telling you, in the next three, four years, there will be a major transformation in Africa. And that’s why we’re looking at power, for example,” he said.
Explaining the scale of the planned investment, Dangote said the group was considering redirecting funds from some businesses to the power sector.
“We are going to invest in power. We want to, actually, there is one or two businesses that we might cancel, like steel, and we will put in the money. We want to invest over $10 billion alone in power,” he said.
Dangote said the investment was being driven by the need to address Africa’s persistent electricity shortage, noting that more than 600 million people on the continent still lacked access to electricity.
“It is something that we Africans should not really allow. Over 600 million of our people to remain in darkness,” he said.
According to Dangote, expanding access to reliable electricity would not only improve living standards but also strengthen industries and accelerate economic development across Africa.
He also linked reliable power supply to the performance of political leaders, arguing that leaders who deliver essential infrastructure would have less difficulty demonstrating their achievements to citizens during election periods.
“As some politicians, if they work hard, they have a plan, when you deliver power, you don’t need to go for campaign when you’re going for the election,” he said.
Dangote maintained that electricity remained fundamental to the continent’s growth ambitions, particularly as African countries seek to expand manufacturing and industrial production.
“So power is key. We will never, ever create growth without power,” he said.
“So that’s why they say, power is growth,” he added.