“What keeps me awake at nights is not really
the enormity of business ideas running through my mind, but it is actually the high
rate of unemployment in the country," these are the words of Africa's
richest man and the chairman of Dangote group Aliko Dangote as he decried the
high rate of unemployment in Nigeria. Speaking at a meeting with a team of
business executives from the Lagos Business School, Dangote said "It is an
eyesore and I think we have collective responsibility to solve this problem.”
The businessman said Nigeria's population is
growing at a rate with it should serve as a blessing to the nation but the
poverty rate in Nigeria increases with the population.
“The more poverty that you have in a society
without education, the more criminals you breed. “It is surprising that poverty
grows in this country as population grows, especially in the North where you
have low income families bearing score of children they cannot cater for,"
he said. He further stressed that Nigerians must not keep waiting on the
government to create jobs.
He however urged the federal government to
focus on creating an enabling environment for every Nigerian who wants to do
business. Citing cases in developed countries, Dangote said great economies
were not created by the government but the private sector which he said are the
major drivers of growth and development. He also complained that the insurgency
in the North-East and militancy in the Niger Delta region contributed to the
growing of unemployment in the Country.
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