On behalf of the African Capital Market community, which today includes representatives from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Nairobi Stock Exchange, the Ghana Stock Exchange, the BVRM – Cote D’Ivoire; Mali; Senegal; the Ethiopian Stock Exchange and the Rwanda Stock Exchange as well as management and trading licence holders of the Nigerian Exchange Group NGX, I wish to express our joy to be given this opportunity to see what a great titan of entrepreneurship and industry, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and his team in Dangote Industries Limited, have planted here for the betterment of our great continent.
I would like to make some comments about the driving force behind Dangote Industries, my Mentor and Big Life Brother, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
Alhaji Dangote is a true visionary with a mission to move the African continent from consumption to production, especially through industrialisation. He has the rare ability to conceive grand designs and bring those designs to reality through meticulous planning and exceptional execution.
In doing that, he has transformed lives, businesses and nations. He and his team at Dangote Group have applied their deft touch in food, cement, fertiliser and petroleum products.
Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Complex is a prime example of the Dangote vision, mission and impact. Determined to put an end to Nigeria and indeed Africa’s reliance on imported petroleum products, the group embarked on the construction of the largest single train refinery in the world.
The impact on the daily lives of Nigerians, and on Nigeria’s balance of payment and external reserves has been massive and positive.
Alhaji Dangote has decided to share the fruits of his labour with willing investors across the continent through a public listing of the shares but those investors need to know more about what they are buying through their professional advisers such as you.
Let me therefore say that we are not only here to see and marvel, but to also evaluate and offer our services as capital market operators and financial advisers for the success of the initial public offer of the shares and their listing on Africa’s foremost exchange, the Nigerian Exchange NGX.
I thank you all for making this trip and also appreciate Dangote Industries Limited once again for granting us an inside and closer look at this magnificent edifice.
Alhaji (Dr) Umaru Kwairanga
Chairman NGX Group
