“Nobody can create jobs with an interest rate of 30%. No growth will happen”

Foremost industrialist and Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has expressed concern over the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) decision to raise the interest rate to nearly 30 percent.

Addressing attendees at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja, during the inaugural session of a three-day summit hosted by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), the industrialist stated that the current interest rate environment may pose challenges in job creation.

He said, “Nobody can create jobs with an interest rate of 30%. No growth will happen. We must look to leading countries in the West and the East that are actively protecting their domestic industries.

“Import dependence is equivalent to importing poverty and exporting jobs. No power, no growth, no prosperity. Similarly, no affordable financing, no growth, no prosperity. There is no industrialisation without protection Ignoring these facts is what gives rise to insecurity, banditry, kidnapping and abject poverty.”