Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has lamented that the devaluation of naira, Nigeria’s currency was the biggest mess for his company in 2023.

Dangote, the Chairman of the Dangote Industries Limited made this statement during the annual general meeting of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc.

According to the billionaire, the domestic operating atmosphere for his business was hostile, being an election year that had a new government sworn into office.

Dangote assured that the conglomerate is making efforts to accomplish the payment of dividends this year.

He disclosed that many companies in Nigeria, especially in food and beverages businesses, were also affected and have been unable to pay dividends.

“We are doing whatever it takes to make sure that at the end of the day, we will be paying dividends because if you look at our dividends last year, it was almost 50 percent more so we will try and get out of the mess,” Dangote said.

“The biggest mess created was actually the devaluation of the naira from N460 to N1,400. You can see almost 97 percent of the companies, especially in food and beverages businesses, none of them will pay dividends this year for sure but, we will try and get out of it as soon as possible.

“We want to see that at the end of the day, no matter how small, we will be able to pay some dividends, especially if there is a rebound of the naira.”

Last year, Dangote announced N164 billion FX loss due to the worsening economic situation of the country notably from the devaluation of Naira.