Africa must remove restrictions that hinder trade and investments – Dangote

African countries must remove restrictions that hinder trade and investments amongst themselves, Africa’s richest man and billionaire Aliko Dangote told delegates on Sunday the first day of the 30th Afreximbank Annual Meetings underway here.

In a Plenary Session on Delivering Prosperity Through Industrialisation, with moderator Mark Eddo, CEO Mark Eddo Media, Dangote said some of the requirements such as visas make it difficult for entrepreneurs like him to invest in some countries.

“If I now have to get a visa, to get into country A, as an African and now we go with a British guy, or maybe a Nigerian who has a British passport, he is allowed in, and I am kept debating about my visa, yet I am the one with the money.

“If you are making life difficult for me, I am not going to invest,” Dangote said.

He said there is need to free up from the visa regime and allow Africans to move freely.

Dangote said some countries with the stringent visa regime give excuses of security yet there are many people illegally crossing the borders and investing nothing.

“Yet I want to invest and you are harassing me, it does not make sense.

“So please as Africans we must take these sort of political will and remove all these obstacles,” said Dangote.

He gave an example of Saudi Arabia which used to have the most difficult visa to get but now has the easiest which has manifested in increased investment and a booming economy.

“We need to make sure the regional markets have to work, because right now we are not allowing free trade, but the other side, that are working against us, the smugglers, they are having free trade.”

Dangote said there is need to make the AfCFTA work so that African countries can trade amongst themselves.

Earlier, Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat shared the same sentiment saying even if trade finance was available but trade barriers persisted and prevented trade, then all the efforts would still have been wasted.

Afreximbank has helped remove some of these barriers by introducing a number of platforms designed to improve trade in Africa such as the Payment Settlement System and Intra-African Trade Fair, among others.

On Sunday, Afreximbank launched another enabler, in form of an insurance management services company, AfrexInsure.

Speaking during the launch, which took place on the sidelines of Afreximbank’s 30th Anniversary Annual Meetings, Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade Bank, speaking on behalf of Prof.

Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, said that AfrexInsure was established to facilitate the insurance of specialty risks in order to support businesses in Afreximbank member countries to mitigate the problem of Africa having to rely on external partners to architect the continent’s economic resilience and development.

“By reducing the risk of transactions or investments, insurance can help drive forward business strategy for those engaged in intra-African trade and enable global partners to further their commercial interests and ambitions in Africa,” said Ms. Awani.

Dangote called for industrialisation of the continent saying by exporting raw materials, Africa is importing poverty and exporting jobs.

He said despite the associated risks, the African continent offers opportunities to be rich.

Meanwhile Dangote thanked Afreximbank for it’s unwavering support to his business ventures including the Dangote Refinery

that was inaugurated on the 22nd of May 2023 in Lekki, Nigeria.

Afreximbank is the largest financier of the over $19 billion Dangote Refinery, as disclosed by Benedict Oramah, president of Afreximbank at the Afreximbank’s 2023 pre-annual meeting press conference for the bank’s 30th anniversary celebration held mid May 2023.

“Without Afreximbank, our dream wouldn’t have come to fruition. They did a lot, they gave us a lot of advise, when we had issues during Covid-19, because everything stopped, ” said Dangote.

He applauded Afreximbank for it’s agility in providing the much needed finance to entrepreneurs something that takes even a year with other financial institutions.-ebusinessweek