Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote revealed on Saturday, that his company lost N50 billion to the recently introduced flexible foreign exchange policy.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week Monday, put an end to the dual exchange rate regime and introduced a single window for the trade in naira.

Speaking when Vice President Yemi Osinbajo toured the project sites of Dangote Fertiliser and Dangote Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, the billionaire businessman said, “we have been badly affected like any other company.”

“When you are talking about 20 billion dollars worth of projects, what is 161 million? One-hundred-and-sixty-one million dollars is what I need in just six weeks.”

“This week (last week), the Central Bank removed the peg that has held the naira at the official rate of 197 for the last 16 months, leading to a 30 per cent devaluation as the currency traded freely on the interbank market.”

“This devaluation alone, we have lost over 50 billion naira ($176 million),” Dangote said.

“The gas, which is our main source of power, is priced in dollars. If there is 40 per cent devaluation, your price will go up by 40 per cent. Every single aspect of the production will go up by that percentage.”

“By the time we complete this project, there will be opportunity to take on agriculture and say bye to poverty, because there will be jobs, no sector has more job potential than agriculture.”