The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said that the group’s cement company pays 52% of its taxes as revenue, with the government collecting 52 kobo from various taxes out of every N1 it turns around.
This was made known by Dangote during a press briefing at Dangote Refinery, where he stated that the government collects more money than what the company shareholders take as dividends.
Africa’s richest man also noted that the federal government collects 10% withholding tax from the dividends that shareholders are paid, leaving them with a balance of 90%.
Responding to those who say that the group wants to be a monopoly, Dangote pointed out that if they had not set up the business, the government would not have collected between N600 billion and N700 billion in various taxes. He noted that this is a win-win situation.
He said, ‘’It is for everybody, the way for it to be for everybody is for you to pay your taxes, and that’s why I keep saying that in our own cement business today, for example, today where the government said we are not giving you incentives if you want you can go and build.
‘’We still went ahead and built, we are building, we are doing export, we are building, we are adding local capacity. And for every N1 we turn around, the government collects 52 kobo from various taxes, that’s what we share. So, the government collects more money than what we shareholders take as dividends. Because when we also take dividends, they will block you and give you change because they collect 10% withholding tax and give you the balance of 90.
‘’So, it’s a win-win situation. So, the people who are calling us a monopoly, let’s say if we didn’t set up the business, the government wouldn’t have collected these various taxes of N600 to N700 billion from us.’’
In a related development, while reflecting on the challenges faced during the development of the group’s 650,000 barrels per day refinery project, Dangote said that if the decision had gone wrong, lenders would have taken over his assets.
Dangote said the refinery project involved huge risk, adding that he received several warnings from industry experts, investors, local and foreign government officials, who argued that only sovereign nations undertake such a large-scale refinery venture.
Dangote, who acknowledged the numerous challenges the refinery has faced since its inception, emphasized the company’s resolute commitment to Nigeria and Africa.