Liberia: VP Howard-Taylor addresses the Ruler of Ras Al Kaiman at UAE The Vice President of Liberia, Chief Dr. Jewel Howard-Taylor, had the opportunity as a guest of the Ruler of Ras Al Kaiman of the United Arab Emirate to express her concern over the blame game on the spread of Covid pandemic. She was there as a Special Guest of Honor of the Global Citizens Forum. Dr. Howard-Taylor, being the only female of Government on the opening, had the opportunity to speak about Africa Post COVID and recovery plans to this global audience. During her deliberations, she spoke that Africa was not the originator of the pandemic, yet most African Nations continue to keep their doors open. She also said that the incident numbers have, thankfully, remained very low in many African countries against the projections of the Western countries. She was concerned that though this was so, the new variant had caused Western nations to begin to put African Nations on lockout while allowing their citizens to travel. She said this was unfair treatment.
Dangote, richest African man’s wealth surges to highest in seven years Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa closed last year at the richest level he has ever been since 2014 buoyed by the second straight year of gains at his cement unit. The rising share price of his Dangote Cement PLC and higher oil and fertilizer prices helped boost the 64-year-old Nigerian businessman’s wealth by as much as $2.3 billion last year to $20.1 billion as of December 3rd 2021, the richest he has been since 2014 according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The highest his wealth has touched on the index was $26.7 billion in June 2014. Robust cement demand and rising prices of the construction material in Africa’s biggest economy have helped boost revenue at Dangote Cement, the tycoon’s main asset. Dangote is also poised to complete a $19 billion refinery that has the capacity to more than meet Nigeria’s fuel demand, which is currently met by imports. Dangote, last year, also started exporting fertilizer to the United States of America and Brazil after the completion of a plant with a capacity to produce 3 million tons of urea and ammonia annually. Born into a wealthy Muslim family of traders in the north, Dangote incorporated his own business selling cement at 21. He shifted to manufacturing the building material in the 1990s, helped by government policies that encouraged ways to reduce the need for imports.
But Vice President Howard-Taylor was quick to point out that humans may have to learn to live with this virus and so must look at means for survival; such as putting funds together to purchase what was needed, partnering with Pharmaceutical companies to establish manufacturing plants on the Continent and rigorously following COVID protocols. The Vice President also had an opportunity during the twoday Summit to meet with the Ruler to speak about Liberia. The Ruler expressed his gratitude that Dr. Taylor accepted the invitation to attend the Summit and looked forward to working with her shortly.
Critics accuse him of taking advantage of his closeness to the government to gain unfair market advantage, a claim he has repeatedly dismissed. Nigeria’s state oil firm in June announced plans to acquire a 20% stake in the Dangote refinery. Despite the loss of his younger brother in 2021, Dangote remains positive as he looks forward to recording more business successes in 2022.
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