- Aliko Dangote cited his investment in Nigeria’s textile industry as one of his biggest business mistakes due to severe losses.
- He attributed the failure to lack of <a href="https://usglobalxpress.com/nigerian-government-to-train-32000-nigerians-with-n10bn-digital-skills/” title=”Nigerian Government to Train 32,000 Nigerians with N10bn Digital Skills -“>government protection, which left local manufacturers unable to compete with cheaper Chinese and Indian imports.
- The collapse of his textile ventures led to the closure of two factories and the loss of around 8,000 jobs.
- Dangote had to sell Liberty Merchant Bank for N1.2 billion, using nearly N1 billion to pay off workers and exit the sector.
Speaking in an interview with Arise TV’s Ojy Okpe, Dangote said his textile investments were among the businesses that left him with some of his most painful losses
He blamed the failure largely on the absence of government protection for local manufacturers as cheaper imported products flooded the Nigerian market
“We did textiles and the business ended up going under because the government policies did not protect our businesses. We were swamped by Chinese dumping and Indian dumping, so eventually we had to close up and lay off about 8,000 workers.”
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“6,920 staff from Nigerian Textile Mills in Ikeja alone were affected, in 1996, we had to pay about N1 billion in terms of payoffs.” he said
Dangote said the experience ultimately forced him to shut down two textile factories, leaving thousands of workers without jobs
Dangote said he had invested heavily in Dangote General Textile Mills in Kano and another textile mill before eventually deciding to exit the industry
The billionaire said competition from Asian imports made it increasingly difficult for Nigerian textile manufacturers to survive, with Chinese and Indian products undercutting locally produced goods
The collapse came with a substantial financial cost. Dangote said he sold Liberty Merchant Bank for about N1.2 billion to help settle obligations linked to the exit, with about N1 billion used to pay pensions and gratuities to workers
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“That’s how we exited the textile business, having burnt our fingers,” Dangote said, describing the episode as a major lesson in doing business in Nigeria
His experience reflects the wider collapse of Nigeria’s once-thriving textile industry, which has struggled for decades with cheap imports, weak infrastructure, high production costs and inconsistent government policies
For Dangote, the textile experience has become an example of the risks of investing heavily in manufacturing without a policy environment capable of protecting domestic producers from intense import competition
As Dangote now takes his refinery public in what is set to be one of Africa’s biggest IPOs, the experience also highlights the scale of the bet he is making on Nigerian manufacturing