Dangote: Nigeria loses N140bn to Apapa gridlock weekly

 
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has lauded the decision of the Federal Government to reconstruct the failed Apapa Wharf Road as its grim state serves as both an embarrassment to the country and a huge loss of close to N140 billion to the government on a weekly basis.
Dangote, who spoke in Lagos on Tuesday, 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”
Lamenting the state of roads in the country, Dangote said: “Today, there is no linkage road going from South-West 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: “Because 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 unattended. 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 one year and we are happy that we have been given the opportunity to finally fix it.”