Once I asked myself: ‘why are staff of World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) so much interested in the wellbeing of countries far away from their homes and the head offices of their employers?’
Before I could blink, the answer flashed: It is because the world is interconnected.
Should those countries fail, the wellbeing of the entire global economy will be affected. If they succeed, the world economy will be better off and everybody everywhere; from Africa through Asia into Europe and the Americas will be better off.
This is the collective mindset that has seen developed and advanced countries share their expertise and riches with less endowed and underdeveloped countries in a manner that has tremendously improved lives.
Back here in Africa and Ghana in particular, the same mentality needs to prevail.
For nations to develop, become better off and prosperous, citizens need to support each other and state and private institutions need to see each other as a part of a whole working towards a common good – the betterment of that society. The collective good rather than personal or group interest need to prevail.
Dangote example
Take for instance, Aliko Dangote, the Nigerian billionaire who is currently the richest Africa. He did not just get there. It took hard work, shrewdness, tenacity; and I am sure many failures and lessons, but above all, he had the needed support from his own country and its successive governments, irrespective of which party was in power.
With a Bachelor of Arts/Science from the Al-Azhar University, the chief executive of the Dangote Group had a real-time net worth of $10.4 billion as of April 9, 2019.
Forbes classifies him as the world’s 136th richest man and his conglomerate employs over 30,000 Nigerians and people of other nationalities directly.
He is the 66th Most Powerful person in the world, according to Forbes. The sources of the 61-year-old’s wealth are cement, sugar and flour although he is now veering into petrochemicals and the oil industry.
Home support
Dangote has enormous support from his country and its government. As a result, he is not afraid of undertaking big and ambitious projects in Nigeria.
This is seen in his continuous investment, expansion and creation of opportunities and jobs for his fellow Nigerians.
It is obvious that the billionaire harbours no tangible fears because there are none. He is probably convinced that neither All Progressives Party (APC) nor the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s version of Ghana’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) – purely in terms of prominence and not necessarily in terms of ideology – will come not after him and his huge investments, either for political expediency or out of malice or based on nonexistent criminality.
With such certainty of the politico-business sphere, Dangote can easily sink billions of dollars in investments in Nigeria without having sleepless nights.
While I do not know Dangote’s political affiliation and sympathy, it appears even if he had one, it is obviously of no bother to his empire who is in power at what point in time because his businesses will still flourish and the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will reap the benefits of a purely private businessman’s investments at home.
Otherwise, Dangote would have chosen to invest a lot of his wealth in other countries – maybe in the US or UK or China.
Government support
Research shows that all the governments of Nigeria’s fourth constitution, headed by presidents Olusegun Obasanjo (PDP), Umaru Yar’Adua (PDP), Goodluck Jonathan (PDP) and Muhammadu Buhari (APC) all, in one way or the other, created an enabling environment for one of their own, Dangote, to operate a successful business. This has made Nigeria self-sufficient in cement production and supply.
Consequently, Nigeria will not need to import so much cement into the country with hard-earned dollars which would have, in turn, weakened the naira. This way, the local currency gets some form of shielding from the international currencies, thanks to the government supporting him.
From former President Olusegun Obasanjo through Goodluck Jonathan to the current Muhammadu Buhari, the Dangote Group has enjoyed a very good political relationship with the state in a way that aids the flourishing of the business not thwarting of its success and examples abound in the media for references.
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