Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, recently addressed the Africa CEO Forum Annual Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, and lamented the challenges faced by investors around the continent as a result of the strict travel restrictions among African nations.
Dangote claims that to travel within Africa, his Nigerian passport requires 35 separate visas. The 67-year-old business tycoon claimed it was a major challenge and that he did not have the time to travel across the continent to drop his passport at embassies to obtain visas.
“I still complained to President Kagame. I told him that, as an investor, I have to now apply for 35 different visas on my passport, and I told Mr President, I don’t have the time to go and drop my passports in embassies to get a visa.
“But you see, the most annoying thing is that yes, if you are treating everybody the same, then I can understand,” he said.
The richest man in Africa, Patrick Pouyanne, chairman of Total Energies, claims that he can enter African nations using his French passport and no longer needs 35 visas.
“You don’t need 35 visas on your French passport. This means you have a freer movement than myself in Africa,” he asserted.
He urged greater cooperation in his contribution to enterprises operating within Africa, emphasizing that outsiders would not help the region accomplish its objectives.
Dangote averred, “Our main job is to make sure the regional markets all work. Once they work, then we can now go to the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement. But then, for AfCFTA also, we need to make sure that it works.
“We cannot have a very promising continent and our intra-trade rate is less than 16 percent. Okay, so we Africans will have to do it. If we are waiting for foreigners to come and do it, the development of Africa, it’s not going to happen.
“So, it can only happen to us Africans. We must risk our sources and make sure that we lead, and then we will have people who trust and believe in Africa, like Patrick to come and help us to push to the next level.”
The business tycoon also declared at the occasion that by June, when the Dangote refinery starts producing gasoline, Nigeria won’t need to import the fuel.
“Right now, Nigeria has no cause to import anything apart from gasoline and by sometime in June, within the next four or five weeks, Nigeria shouldn’t import anything like gasoline; not one drop of a litre,” he assured.
As a result, Dangote declared that other West African nations as well as Nigeria would deal with the shortage in gasoline supplies.
“We have enough gasoline to give to at least the entire West Africa. We have enough diesel to give to West Africa and Central Africa,” he added.
