Dangote: Africa Must Curb Wealth Concentration – Ex-CBN Deputy Governor, Moghalu

Professor Kingsley Moghalu, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has cautioned that African governments are failing to think strategically about the growing issue of extreme wealth inequality.

This is even as he noted that “just four African billionaires own more wealth than 50% of Africa’s population.”

In a post on X, Moghalu said political leaders and citizens are “busy celebrating the billionaires” instead of designing policy environments that help ordinary Africans create sustainable livelihoods and wealth.

He argued that while capitalism aligns with human nature and has proved more successful than communism, efficient markets “can’t exist without effective public and regulatory policy.”

According to him, “there’s nothing like a perfectly free market,” adding that Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” requires competent state action to function well.

He cautioned that without such policy competence, African countries risk entrenching “crony capitalist societies in which a few are extremely wealthy while the vast majority are poor.”

Moghalu pointed to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan as examples of economies where the state played a critical role in creating and shaping markets to drive national prosperity.

He said Nigeria has the potential to become “the first example of a truly successful African capitalist country,” if a competent state creates opportunities and regulates markets properly.

“The welfare and security of citizens is the foundational duty of government,” he added.