Seun Akinyemi

Here's an example of what I was talking about yesterday using Google Earth images (google.com/maps/@7.9266659,6…). For context, Obajana is the largest cement plant in Nigeria. It was commissioned by former President Obasanjo in early 2007 just before he left office, so coming up to 20 years old. It is a giant complex for which Dangote operated it completely tax free for about 10yrs. He abused the government's pioneer status scheme with this plant to such extreme levels that the scheme was scrapped for cement. Cement has also been completely protected for more than 20yrs in Nigeria - imports are totally banned with clinker only allowed with 50% tariffs. Image 1 - shows the plant's footprint and scale in the area Image 2 - from a June 2022 street view. This is what the surrounding area of the plant looks like at street level Image 3 - is roughly 5 miles from the plant. You can see mud walls (anytime there are heavy rains in Nigeria, you always get stories of people dying because their mud houses collapsed) Image 4 - You can rubbish heaps with the plant in the background. This is where the world's richest black man makes his billion dollar fortune. Once you step outside the factory gates, much of the surrounding area remains unpaved shoulders, rudimentary drainage and pedestrians sharing the road with his thousands of cement lorries. When I say there is zero evidence of cement linked to Nigerian development in any way, this is what I mean. Nigeria has consumed roughly a third of the amount of cement you'd expect because Dangote extracts an unbelievable price for "manufacturing" cement in Nigeria and "stopping imports". His focus on his margins above everything else is almost deranged. If you had a man like this in Britain in the middle of the nineteenth century, Bazalgette doesn't get the London Sewer built and cholera does not get eliminated (ice.org.uk/what-is-civil-eng…). If you had him in early 20th century America, Erle Halliburton does not perfect oil well cementing and the world does not benefit from it (halliburton.com/en/about-us/…) But give it a few weeks, there will soon be another article in some reputable foreign media talking about how Dangote is on a journey to industrialise Africa. Meanwhile the man's two-decade record is right there in plain sight for everyone to see. Yes, the Nigerian government is retarded enough to let this happen so it is not all his fault. But does Dangote himself have no shame? No innovation, no technology mastery, no impact on his immediate doorstep. Just his margins and counting his billions of dollars.