Our three subsidiaries paid N474bn tax to FG – Dangote

Three subsidiaries of Dangote Group paid a total of N474bn as tax to the Federal Government in three years.

An official of Dangote Group, Hashem Ahmed, disclosed this at the opening ceremony of the 18th Abuja International Trade Fair on Thursday.

Ahmed, who represented the multibillion dollar group, disclosed this while speaking on the theme of the fair titled, ‘Sustainable financing and taxation as drivers of the new economy’.

The trade fair was organised by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in conjunction with other private and public partners.

After conveying the greetings and well wishes of the Group President, Aliko Dangote, Ahmed said, “For us, the theme for this year, which focuses on sustainable financing and taxation, is apt, as it resonates with our modus operandi.

“As you may be aware that apart from being the highest employer of labour in the private sector, the Dangote Group is also the biggest tax payer. In just three years, Dangote subsidiaries paid a staggering N474bn to the Federal Government.

“These are Dangote Sugar, Dangote Cement and Dangote Salt, combined. This corridor of sustained financial support by the Dangote Group is in addition to several empowerment/skill acquisition programmes, Corporate Social Responsibility programmes, sponsorship and philanthropic schemes, running into several billions of naira.”

He said the group was also pleased that the Federal Government was pursuing a tax reform policy that would help expand the tax net and provide necessary financing for the development of the country’s infrastructures.

Also speaking at the event, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, said the government had announced a plan to support small businesses and startups in Nigeria in response to the country’s current economic challenges.

Uzoka-Anite, who was represented by the Director, Commodity and Export, FMITI, Kaura Irimiya, stated, “We intend to spend N75bn by March 2024 to strengthen the manufacturing sector. We also intend to provide small grants to micro businesses in each to the 774 Local Governments of the federation.

“We have also earmarked a fund of N75bn that will be used to support up to 100,000 start-ups and MSMEs at single digital interest rates repayable over 36 months.”

She added that last week, “we launched the National Technology Export programme, in partnership with Microsoft and earlier this year, we launched the over $600m investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises programme, in partnership with African Development Bank and other partners.”