CEO, Dangote Group
BREAKING: Aliko Dangote Addressed The 69th ECOWAS MID YEAR SUMMIT...
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BREAKING: Aliko Dangote Addressed The 69th ECOWAS MID YEAR SUMMIT OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT....
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About Aliko Dangote
Aliko Dangote, chairman and CEO of the Dangote Group, has recently addressed multiple regional and continental forums, including the 69th ECOWAS mid-year summit and the 2026 African Caucus in Banjul, The Gambia. At these events, he announced the "Dangote Vision 2030," a plan to invest $46 billion across Africa over the next four years, and stated that the group plans to launch a 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, East Africa. Dangote argued that no country has achieved high-income status without industrialization and called for an "African Industrialization Compact 2035" with measurable commitments from governments, the IMF, and the World Bank. He also said that Africa must move beyond exporting raw materials and that economic growth is not the same as economic transformation. Dangote has repeatedly criticized barriers to intra-African trade and movement, stating that a holder of a British passport can move more freely in Africa than an African passport holder, and he called for the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. He said that domestic investment is indispensable and that African pension funds and savings should be mobilized for continental development. Dangote also said that corruption does not stop business but is more pronounced in Africa due to weak institutions, and he argued that local investors must lead before foreign investors will follow.
Transcript (12 segments)
A
Aliko Dangote0:00
Your excellencies, the head of sales, heads of state and government, the president of the King's Commission, honorable ministers, His Excellency, former President of Son, the Deputy Secretary General, my sister Amina Muhammad, distinguished ladies and gentlemen. I would also like to stand on the very established board. It is with profound honor that I address this 69th ordinary session of the authority of state and government of ECOWAS both as a special guest and as chairman of the ECOWAS Business Council.
Sharing His Excellency President Julius Mville, the government and people of for the warm hospitality extended to us and also for hosting this august gathering. This summit comes at a moment given that ECOWAS has completed 50 years of existence. We are therefore not only commemorating the past, we are being called upon to make fundamental choices about the future.
The official theme of this meeting, 'One Region, One Mission and One Future,' captures the aspiration that has guided us since the Treaty of Lagos was signed in 1975. The question before us is whether we are prepared to translate that aspiration into the daily economic, political, and social reality of our citizens. The future of our efforts will be secured by what our people can see, experience, and believe: safer communities, functioning borders, affordable food, reliable energy, productive environment, accountable government, reliable infrastructure, and genuine freedom to trade, invest, live, and work across our region.
Your excellencies, 50 years is long enough for reflection. But even more importantly, it is time for renewal. The question before us is no longer whether ECOWAS remains relevant. It does. The real question is whether ECOWAS is moving fast enough to meet the expectations of the nearly 460 million West Africans, most of whom are young, ambitious, and increasingly impatient for opportunity.
As someone who has actually invested across Africa over four decades, allow me to respectfully share one conviction. The future of ECOWAS will not be determined by the number of protocols we sign. It will be determined by the number of opportunities we create for our people. And that, in my view, is the challenge before us.
Our region processes everything prepared for prosperity. We have abundant energy resources, vital agricultural land, strategic minerals, one of the world's youngest populations, and an entrepreneurial spirit that is second to none. The regional economy continues to show resilience with growth projected at about 5% this year. Yet millions of our young people remain unemployed. Food insecurity continues to affect far too many families. Manufacturing remains limited, and despite five decades of integration, trade among our people still represents only a small fraction of our total trade with the rest of the world. This tells us one important truth: Economic growth is not the same as economic transformation.
The transformation of us is when we process what we produce, we manufacture what we consume, trade more with one another, and create productive jobs for our people. That is the journey ECOWAS must now embark on going forward.
Your excellencies, allow me to respectfully share some of the facts that I believe should shape the next chapter of our community. Our citizens will judge ECOWAS by real and practical results, which they will measure by whether they can cross borders without unnecessary delays, whether businesses can trade freely, whether electricity is available, whether food is affordable, and whether young people can find decent jobs. If regional integration does not improve their lives, public confidence will diminish.
There can be no lasting prosperity without good governance, peace, and political stability. Military intervention is not a sustainable path to government. But democratic governance must also continuously earn the confidence of citizens. Strong institutions, credible elections, respect for the rule of law, and accountable leadership remain the strongest foundations for economic development. Political stability is not simply a political objective; it is an economic asset. Investors invest in stability.
West Africa must move from exporting raw materials to exporting processed goods. We export raw materials like cocoa, cotton, and agricultural produce, which have many values. This singular act is responsible for exporting our jobs out from our continent and also importing poverty into our countries. We must learn how to create jobs and have prosperity. No country has ever become prosperous through raw material exports. The future belongs to the region that processes its own resources, develops regional value chains, and builds industries. Industrialization is the path to large-scale prosperity, technological investment, and shared prosperity. Certainly government, not the private sector, must become a strategic development partner. While government creates the environment, the private sector will create industries, innovation, jobs, and prosperity. There is no way government can actually bring prosperity without the private sector.
The establishment of the ECOWAS Business Council reflects this new thinking, and I assure you the council will be action oriented. We intend to serve as a practical bridge between government and the private sector, helping to identify obstacles to investment, promoting regional value chains, and supporting the... 50 years of business. We are therefore not only learning from the past, we are performing for the future. What I want to say here is that I would like to have the partnership of your excellencies so that we in the private sector partner with you to create jobs and create prosperity.
This generation will not judge us by these things. They will judge us by whether they see good, whether in Ghana sourcing raw materials from unnecessary barriers, whether a farmer can access regional markets, and whether an investor sees West Africa not as 12 or 15 separate economies, but as one integrated market of almost 500 million people. That is what our citizens expect. And as chairman of the ECOWAS Business Council, I am fully committed to work alongside you to achieve this. What I want to say, Vice President, we have 10,000 members within the ECOWAS Business Council, and any country has... All right, our leaders here. We want to make sure that our 46 million investment between now... Thank you. Thank you so much.