Shipping from Lagos to Accra more expensive than Spain to Nigeria - Dangote

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has criticised the high cost of intra-African trade, revealing that shipping goods from Lagos to Accra can be more expensive than from Spain to Nigeria.

Speaking in an interview with Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), he pointed out that Africa’s trade system remains weighed down by structural inefficiencies.

Aliko Dangote, who leads one of Africa’s major conglomerates operating in 17 countries across cement, fertiliser, and oil refining, called for urgent reforms to the continent’s trade system to boost intra-African commerce and economic integration.

“It costs more to ship from Lagos port to Accra than from Spain to Lagos. There’s no way you can do trade with your neighbours like this,” he lamented.

Dangote also blamed weak transport infrastructure and fragmented logistics systems for the high cost of doing business across African borders.

“When we look at the transportation sector, most of the people who own ships that move goods around are not Africans,” he noted.

He also highlighted visa restrictions and poor mobility as major obstacles to investment and integration across the continent.

“Somebody like me needs 38 visas to move around. How do I invest now if I’m not able to move around? It doesn’t make sense,” he said.

“Nobody has time to keep applying for visas,” he added.

Dangote said the inability to move goods, services, and people freely remains one of the biggest challenges to Africa’s economic integration.

“Without this, there’s no way we are going to have a very prosperous Africa. I cannot move my goods from Lagos to the Republic of Benin, and when you try to cross the border, you can be there for a week, if you are lucky," he concluded.



MA