Dangote Climbs Up Forbes List

Published on Wed, Nov 21 2012 by Akin.Adekeye

http://www.forbes.com/profile/aliko-dangote/

Great for Dangote, and Nigerians should be proud of him. Given his influence in Nigeria, he can do more, especially in pushing the government to build better infrastructure. It is a shame that a country the size of Nigeria lacks a rail network, for instance, so Dangote has to truck his goods on Nigeria's terrible roads. And, sadly, Nigeria's most dire needs may still be water and electricity -- quite unfortunate in 2012. With clean water, we solve a lot of our health problems. And, with electricity, we cut down on pollution from generators; businesses run more smoothly, and the security situation also improves significantly. People like Dangote can push elected officials to do the right thing. Nigeria needs leaders with vision and know-how.

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Pikin-In-Chief

Thu, Nov 29 2012

09:18 AM

Yes, the 1% can leverage their position and influence to effect better policy changes, but Abiola would tell you, politics can be a very life-shortening tool.

I hope Dangote takes the courage to keep building out what his enterprises needs. We the common folks will benefit from a non-governmental institution taking initiatives. It's not unprecedented of course; most of the institutional infrastructures we take for granted here in the developed economies are conceived, built and paid for by non-governmental groups. Let's encourage more of such with our 1%ers!