Africa must stop exporting jobs and importing poverty – Aliko Dangote

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has called for a change in how the continent manages its natural resources, saying African countries must stop exporting raw materials only to import finished products at higher prices.

Dangote said his group intends to invest heavily in industries that will process Africa’s mineral resources locally, create jobs and reduce the continent’s dependence on foreign production.

“Our target is to disrupt actually taking Africa’s mineral resources to go and create jobs elsewhere and import poverty into our continent,” he said during an interview with the BBC.

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According to the Nigerian industrialist, Africa has the resources and capacity to drive its own industrial development but must invest in infrastructure, particularly reliable electricity, to support manufacturing and mineral processing.

Dangote disclosed that his group plans to invest in at least 10,000 megawatts of power generation capacity across Africa by 2030.

He said the investment could rise to 20,000 megawatts if there is sufficient demand and agreements with governments.

He cited Zambia’s copper industry as an example, arguing that African countries should process more of their minerals locally instead of exporting them in raw form.

He identified inadequate power supply as one of the major barriers preventing countries from expanding local processing.

Dangote also pointed to planned investments in Lamu, Kenya, where he said his group intends to develop power capacity alongside its refinery project.

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He said protests and land-related issues would not stop the project, adding that some of the opposition may be coming from local businesses and international traders who see the project as competition.

“Nobody wants Africa to develop. That’s why we Africans will develop Africa, whether they like it or they don’t like it. We are moving,” he said.

If given the chance, we're going to disrupt the sector where people normally come and collect our mineral resources, take it out without processing it here. That is our target.

- Aliko Dangote https://t.co/yKtyWY5H6L

— Imran Muhammad (@Imranmuhdz) October 6, 2026

DR/MA

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