President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has been conferred with the title of Distinguished Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAE).
The honour was bestowed on him during an induction ceremony held in Victoria Island, Lagos, where he was decorated by the academy’s president, Rahamon Bello.
Dangote attended the event alongside his daughters, family members, and senior executives of the Dangote Group.
Speaking after the conferment, the business magnate renewed his call for Nigeria to build a self-reliant economy anchored on local production and strong infrastructure.
He stressed that the country must shift its focus from consumption to production in order to achieve lasting economic independence.
“True economic independence is impossible without technical sovereignty. We must design, fabricate, and build what we consume,” he said.
Dangote highlighted the importance of stable electricity to industrial growth, describing it as a critical driver of development.
He called for urgent investments in power generation and expansion of the national grid.
“We must build power. I keep repeating it, we must build it. Together, let us engineer a Nigeria that works not just for some, but for everyone,” he added.
He pointed to the Dangote Refinery as evidence of what can be achieved through large-scale industrial ambition, noting that its capacity rivals many global facilities.
According to him, the group’s long-term vision is to reduce dependence on imports while positioning Nigeria and the wider African continent as hubs for industrial production.
“Our goal has always been clear: to make Nigeria, and by extension Africa, self-sufficient in goods we once imported, and to prove that this ambition is achievable at scale,” he said.
Dangote also cautioned about the growing influence of artificial intelligence in engineering, warning that aspects of design may increasingly become automated.
He urged professionals in the field to remain proactive and play an active role in shaping how such technologies are deployed.
The recognition by the Nigerian Academy of Engineering underscores Dangote’s contributions to industrial development and engineering advancement in Nigeria.
