Founder/President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has pledged to construct a students’ hostel valued at ₦550 million for students of the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Imo State.
He equally made a donation of ₦25 million to the students of the institution, via their Students’ Union Government.
Dangote made the pledge to build the students’ hostel when he was at the institution, at the weekend, to deliver a public lecture on Enterprise, Leadership and Service to Humanity.
The students’ hostel, when completed, will help to alleviate the shortages of accommodation for students of FUTO.
In his presentation, the foremost industrialist encouraged the FUTO students with the history of his humble beginning in business as a distributor of bagged cement and other items.
Dangote said, despite making money by trading in commodities, he decided to embark on a backward integration process, producing locally, those goods he used to import.
He stated that importing finished products into Nigeria wass equivalent to importing poverty, inflation and unemployment while export of raw materials.
According to him, importation of finished products simply creates jobs, prosperity and development in the exporting countries.
Dangote added that the decision to embrace manufacturing was to create jobs and add values to the raw materials that were usually exported.
He said a major key in industrialisation was looking inwards, adding that investors in the industrial sector should come from the citizens.
He added that if he had refused to invest in Nigeria and Africa, no foreign investor will be willing to stake his or her funds here.
Drawing examples from the Asia Tigers, he said: “Asian economies are powered by Asians, not foreign investment. They are the ones who invested in their countries. They did not wait for foreigners to come and develop their economies.”
Further counselling the FUTO students, he said Nigerian youths were endowed with innovative spirit and could hold their own anywhere around the globe.
He said many fresh graduates of engineering who were recruited and trained by Dangote Refinery and Fertiliser have been poached by companies in the Gulf region who treated them as expatriates.
Dangote said: “We face significant economic and social challenges, but we also sit on enormous opportunities.
“We have a young and energetic population, abundant natural resources, and an entrepreneurial spirit that is unmatched across the continent.
“In my own journey through business and industry, entrepreneurship has shown itself to be one of the most powerful tools for transforming challenges into opportunities.
“When young people are equipped with technical skills, mentorship, and access to capital, they do not just seek jobs – they create them.
“They build enterprises that diversify our economy beyond oil, strengthen local industries, and fuel sustainable development.”
He challenged the students to be innovative and creative, ready to learn and adapt as to be able to add value to the society.
Drawing examples from China, Dangote told the FUTO students that China has the highest number of people in the engineering field, which has made the country the leading centre of manufacturing and industrial development.
