Dangote Warns Middle East Crisis May Trigger COVID-style Work-from-home in Africa
Korede Abdullah 
Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote and President Bola Tinubu
LAGOS, Nigeria – Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has warned that the ongoing Middle East crisis could compel Nigeria and other African countries to reintroduce COVID-19-era work-from-home measures if tensions persist.
Dangote said this on Monday after meeting with President Bola Tinubu at his Ikoyi residence in Lagos, where he raised concerns over the economic strain of oil price volatility on debt-burdened African economies.
He said, “If this thing doesn’t de-escalate, you know, normally we in Africa, we don’t have any reserves in terms of savings. And so, people normally go out and look for money for the next day or for even the same day. Some of them, if they don’t work that day, they won’t eat.”
“In some countries today what they’ve done, they asked everybody to work from home because they cannot afford it. I think Indonesians also only go to work four days a week. And they will look at the situation if it doesn’t improve, they will ask everybody not to go to work anymore. We will do like that time of COVID, where people will work from home,” Dangote stated.
“People who are barbers, people who make bread, people who have industries, who have to pay for their own generators, you know, I mean, you can see what is happening,” he said, calling for global intervention and prayers to end the crisis.
“We just need all hands-on deck to pray that this thing comes to an end.” On President Tinubu’s recent visit to the United Kingdom, Dangote expressed optimism over a £746m infrastructure deal, saying, “It has not been easy dealing with the British… It’s not about the money. It’s about the confidence in Nigeria.”
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Hussaini Ibrahim 
Oluwatobi Adu