Basil Oyibo.    Mumbai, India    March 13, 2011

Thanks and God bless you more OMOTAYO, J. A. for your kind with the best knowledge assisting even to cry out at this point of time we need it even if it help poor Nigerians ahead to the cost of items in our market today Mr. Mike Adenuga's Glo his preferable welcomed than to answer names outside even inside Nigerian with out giving all the poor their needs I tried comparing him to Reliance Energy company India and others products of Reliance, I can say that is family business but they came to the need of all India the poor even to the rich because the price of there product is low cost and stable every body can buy them but in Nigeria price changes every time with out government approved or the game please we don’t need answering names this time what all we Nigerians need is charity begins at home we can prove you as you try to get the needs of the poor inside the villages God continue to help Nigerian .

SB    Manchester, UK    March 13, 2011

Alhaji, I felicitate with you and other successful Nigerians in all parts of the world. Please keep it. However I will like to ask Alhaji Dangote how Nigerians living below the poverty line are benefiting from you massive wealth?
In developed countries, most wealthy people support or finance a particular charitable organisation in order to give something back to the society.
Thank you.

waka-about    Texas, USA    March 12, 2011

@ Omotayo - market dynamics allow Dangote, which has a monopoly in most commodity markets in Nigeria, to set prices instead of being a price taker like Globacom, a player in a very competitive market, was forced to be. Glo did not change the price of sim cards out of the goodness of their heart, instead they entered a competitive market with basically a commodity product and price was one of the only ways to differentiate themselves. Moral of the story is government should enable competitive markets and ensure that the players are participating fairly.

That said, comparing the increase in the cost of goods simply to the change in exchange rates is not very effective. Other factors can contribute e.g. cost of labour, machinery, transportation, etc .

Congratulations to Mr Dangote - I hope he will do more to promote entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

OMOTAYO, J. A.    Lagos, NIGERIA    March 11, 2011

It is heart-warming to read the news that a Nigerian, Mr. Aliko Dangote, is the richest blackman on earth. But it is also disheartening that the rising prices of commodities from the Dangote Group does not permit many average Nigerians to benefit adequately from the richest blackman's business activities. For instance, in 1999 when his cement business was still coming up, the Dangote cement was about N450.00 - N470.00 per bag. But today, it costs about N1,500.00 - N1,700.00 per bag. That is over three times costlier.

I have tried to rationalise why such an increase in price. The exchange rate of Dollar : Naira in 1999 was $1.00 : N82.00 (officially) and $1.00 : N95.00 (black market). Today, this has become $1.00 : N151.00 less than double what it was in 1999. The same can be written of sugar, noddles, etc.

Whilst congratulating Mr. Dangote for his achievement, I urge him to use his position to bring down the prices of the comodities produced by the Dangote Group. I still recall that without Mr. Mike Adenuga's Glo, the cost of sim card alone would still have been sufficient to buy a smart phone. It was Glo that changed the call rate to low levels now affordable to the rural dwellers and market women.

God bless Nigeria.