Africa’s richest man and one of Nigeria’s biggest employers, Alhaji Aliko Dangote may have begun to feel the biting effect of the recession in the economy as evident in the recent decision of his company to let go of some employees for economic reasons.
The Dangote Group, it has been revealed, has fired 48 members of staff comprising of 36 foreigners and 12 Nigerians working with the company’s headquarters and its major subsidiary, Dangote Cement Plc.
Punch reports that the decision to sack the workers was taken due to the rising cost of doing business in Nigeria, a situation worsened by the unavailability of foreign exchange and the unprecedented hike in the Naira to dollar exchange rate.
Sources within the company also hinted that the huge amounts in foreign currencies being paid to the expatriate workers had become a burden on Dangote due to the steady depreciation in the value of the Naira and the difficulties of raising enough dollars.
Some of the dismissed expatriates are now to be replaced with Nigerians, who have acquired the requisite experience on the job, as paying them in Naira will be less problematic.
In a letter signed by the President/Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, dated Thursday, October 20, 2016, obtained by Punch, the firm stated that it was constrained to take the “tough” decisions as economic factors had affected the cost of production.
The letter, which was titled: ‘Recent Retirement Exercise’, however, appreciated those affected for their contributions to the growth of the group.
The letter read in part,
“This year has been a very challenging year for us as a business. The unavailability of foreign exchange coupled with an unprecedented hike in the exchange rate has resulted in increased costs across the organisation.”
Business reporting outfit, Bloomberg had in its latest ‘Billionaire Index’ stated that Dangote had lost $5.4bn of his fortune in 2016 due to the fall in the value of the Naira and the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ration dollars to stem huge capital outflows in the thick of Nigeria’s worst economic crisis.
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