The present challenges facing the country notwithstanding, the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has reassured of more investments in the country just as he stressed his unwavering faith in the nation’s economy.

Dangote spoke at the weekend when a group of entrepreneurs visited him in his office in Lagos, South-West Nigeria. He urged Nigerians not to be discouraged by various challenges facing the nation, saying that they are necessary steps needed for the nation to rank among the best industrially in the years to come.

Just last week during a breakfast session with media chiefs on the occasion of his 56^th birthday, the business mogul had disclosed that his Group was almost through with preparations for the establishment of a refinery, saying there is no alternative to the establishment of industries if more jobs are to be created.

Dangote assured that all his investments would be tailored towards job creation for gainful employment so as to alleviate poverty among the people.

The international business icon who is a member of the National Economic Management Team stated that what Nigerians need most presently is economic empowerment and that it is only a working population whether self-employed or engaged that could be economically empowered.

He explained that the economic development of the country rests more on the shoulders of private sector operators while government’s strategic role is to ensure that a conducive environment is provided by putting in place right policies that would encourage the setting up of businesses.

Dangote noted that the situation in Nigeria is such that said all hands must be on deck to ensure that the dream of the country’s economic turn-around becomes a reality.

He therefore urged that local investors should complement the efforts of the federal government at ensuring the success of the economic agenda by delving into manufacturing as one of the means of empowering Nigerians through job creation.

The Group President then advised that local businessmen should take the advantage of abundant opportunities in the country to invest in employment generating businesses to empower Nigerians.

He promised that he would do all within his power to ensure that any investment he makes is job creation focused and urged other investors to do same for the nation to be where it ought to be 2020.

The business mogul noted that it was only through the active involvement of the private sector that the areas of infrastructure deficit could be tracked and tackled by government, adding that all countries of the world whose economy have made appreciable impact on the citizenry have done so through manufacturing.

To buttress his position, Dangote referred to a report published last August by the renowned Global Consulting firm McKinsey on the economic potentials in Nigeria and a host of other African countries.

His words: “The McKensey report is very instructive; it says that half of the 30 million jobs in African manufacturing offer wage paying employment, a higher share than most sectors. If current projections for manufacturing value-added growth hold, it is estimated that that the sector will create eight million more stable jobs by 2020.”

Dangote expressed confidence that the transformation agenda of the federal government would perfectly key into projection of the report if the private sector participate effectively in the economic turn-around measures.

•Photo shows Dangote.

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