Aliko Dangote, the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said the federal government earns more from his cement company through taxes than shareholders receive as dividends.
Speaking during a press briefing at Dangote Refinery, Africa’s richest man explained that the company pays 52 percent of its turnover in various taxes.
“For every N1 we turn around, the government collects 52 kobo from various taxes, that’s what we share,” he said.
“So, the government collects more money than what we shareholders take as dividends.
“Because when we also take dividends, they will block you and give you change because they collect 10% withholding tax and give you the balance of 90.”
Dangote added that the cement company has generated between N600 billion and N700 billion in tax revenue for the government, which he described as a “win-win situation.”
“It is for everybody, the way for it to be for everybody is for you to pay your taxes,” he said.
“That’s why I keep saying that in our own cement business today, for example, where the government said we are not giving you incentives, if you want you can go and build, we still went ahead and built. We are building, we are doing export, we are adding local capacity.”
Responding to critics who accuse his company of seeking monopoly, Dangote argued that without his investments, the government would not have collected such large sums in taxes.
“So, the people who are calling us a monopoly, let’s say if we didn’t set up the business, the government wouldn’t have collected these various taxes of N600 to N700 billion from us,” he said.
New Hands at Dangote Cement
Daily Times reported in August that Dangote officially stepped down as Chairman of the company’s Board of Directors on July 25, 2025.
According to a statement by Anthony Chiejina, the company’s spokesperson, Dangote is retired from the board to dedicate more time to other strategic projects, including the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Petrochemicals, Fertiliser, and Government Relations.
“He is relinquishing his position as chairman and retiring from the board so as to focus more attention on the refinery, petrochemicals, fertiliser, and government relations in order to drive the company’s five-year business trajectory to a superlative height,” the statement read.
Following his exit, Emmanuel Ikazoboh, an independent non-executive director, was appointed as the new Chairman of the Board. Hajiya Mariya Aliko Dangote has also joined the board.
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