President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has decried the lack of government protection through policy decisions, saying this was one of the issues that led to the shutdown of his two textile factories.
He said following the shutdown of the factories, he had to sell his bank, Liberty Merchant Bank, for N1.2 billion to pay off pensions and gratuities of workers in Nigeria’s textile mill.
Dangote shared his experience on a keynote speech at the 2024 Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) summit in Abuja, on Tuesday.
He recalled that his company invested billions of naira in the textile industry following the boom of the 1960s.
“When textile businesses were booming, we went and set up our own textile mills in Kano called Dangote General Textile Mills. Then we massively invested billions at that time.
“We also went and bought the foreign shareholder of Nigeria Textile Mill which was a textile mill set up for the Western Region by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. That was 1960. At the end of the day, there was no government protection. We had to shut both the two factories.
“In fact, we had to delay. The biggest challenge we had was with the Nigeria Textile mill because most of their workers have worked there for 25 to 30 years, so paying their pension and gratuity was difficult for us.
“Luckily for us, somebody now came and said he wanted to buy our bank, Liberty Merchant Bank. By the time we sold Liberty, I cashed out N1.2 billion. After cashing out N1.2 billion, the industry consumed N985 million to pay pensions and gratuities just to get out of the business. That is how we now got out of the business. We burnt our fingers,” Dangote said.
Africa’s richest man said former President Olusegun Obasanjo later advised him to invest in the textile industry, but due to his former experience, he had to turn down the offer.
