Going,going.....

In 1975, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and joined his friend Paul Allen, to form a software company called Microsoft. After Apple developed the first-point -and click operating system for the Mackintosh, Microsoft produced its own version and called it Windows. Almost immediately Windows was installed in about 90% of the world’s computers, with Microsoft stock at about 550b dollars, and owing 15% of the stock, Bill Gates became the richest man on the planet at 44 years old.

At the beginning of this century, United States of America instituted an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Inc that lasted for twenty-one years. The bone of contention was that Microsoft maintained its monopoly power by anti-competitive means and also attempted to monopolize the web browser market, as well as unlawfully tying its Web browser to its operating system. During that period, opinions range from imposing restrictions on Microsoft’s corporate conduct to breaking up the company.  In clearer words, USA was uncomfortable with the economy power vested in an individual’s hand through the company against the entire country.

For a capitalist economy, the suit may have appeared preposterous then, but with the benefit of hindsight, it is obvious that the State was more than justified in the action taken. Bill Gates stepped down as the CEO, but did not lose his company. Though the company continued to make money with its Windows dominance, its monopoly on computing was broken, allowing competitors like Apple and Goggles to soar.

At home, in 1977, The Dangote Group was established as a small trading firm by Alhaji Aliko Dangote. It started by trading in petty supplies and a little bit of commodities. Without patenting any invention and within three decades, the company has moved from being a trading company to being the largest industrial group in Africa. Helped by successive government direct support and patronage, the Dangote Group is today a multi trillion naira conglomerate with many of its operations spread across the sub-Saharan with monopoly over sugar, flour and cement.

In 1990 and 2012, Alhaji Dangote secured a contract from Central bank of Nigeria to manage their fleet of cars and logistics, and also secured a piece of land form Nigerians Port Authority for his flour interest respectively. With his dominance in sugar and refinery business, Dangote is the main supplier to the country’s soft drinks companies, breweries and confectioneries. It owns salt factories and it is a major importer of rice, pasta and fertilizer. With his renewed interest in telecommunication, it is safe to conclude that Dangote owns the nation.

And today, as the Federal Government gears up toward selling off our national assets in total insensitivity to the wishes of the people, Dangote is once again poised to buy off what remains of the country and pay from his back

pocket. If Dangote has monopolized our economy, has he also monopolized our collective senses? How we got to the decision to sell our assets to raise fund for capital projects still baffle me. But for now, I will allow the readers the luxury of reading in between the lines while I shudder at my personal conclusion on this matter.