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| The President, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote |
The President, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote yesterday said
the Federal Government loses about N140billion weekly because of the deplorable
condition of the Apapa ports access roads.
He, however lauded, the government’s decision to reconstruct
the failed Apapa Wharf road.
Dangote said: “The economy loses more than N20 billion
daily. It affects businesses across the country. All our operations in the
hinterland in Ilorin, in Kano are operating at 40 per cent maximum capacity.
“Today, there is no linkage road going from Southwest to the
North. You have to go all the way through Ajaokuta, Obajana, Lokoja and you
have to go by that uncompleted road Obasanjo started 13 years ago.”
Commenting on his resolve to personally get involved in the
Apapa Wharf road reconstruction, he said: “It is very embarrassing! We can’t
just sit and have a road like that where it is the heart of the trade of the
country. More than 60 per cent of our country’s import and exports come through
the port and we leave it un-attended to. That is why we started on our own.
Flour Mills said they will join us, but now government changed the design
because they want all the cables and pipes underground and to have a more
robust solution.”
To help in bringing the cost down, he explained that he
forced his company to do it at zero profit. According to him, “Both Dangote and
Flour Mills are pumping in over N2.5billion for 2km double lane on each side
making a total of 4km”.
He further explained that the biggest job “is drainage
because that is what is destroying the road. We will make sure this problem is
sorted out once and for all. This thing should not be allowed to happen. We
started discussion with the government over oner year and we are happy that we
have been given the opportunity to finally fix it.”
The Federal Government had over the weekend, handed over the
troubled road to Dangote Industries Limited and Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN)
for immediate reconstruction with concrete overlay.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the construction of
the road was signed by the Federal Government, DIL, Nigerian Port Authority
(NPA) and the Federal Ministry of Works.
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola
(SAN) signed the agreement for the handover of the road, on behalf of the
Federal Government, while the Managing
Director, NPA, Hadiza Usman,and Joseph Makoju, honorary advisor to Aliko
Dangote, signed for their respective organisations. The three organisations are
embarking on the project as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR)
to Apapa, where they all do business.
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