Aliko Dangote: If I Don’t Invest in Africa, Others Won’t Follow
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote is championing a bold vision for Africa’s economic independence and shared prosperity. At a time when the continent continues to grapple with underinvestment and external dependence, the Founder and President of the Dangote Group is making a compelling case for homegrown capital and leadership. From transforming energy supply with his mega refinery to pushing for industrialisation across sectors, Dangote insists that Africa’s future must be driven by Africans themselves. In this wide-ranging conversations during an African Investment Forum organised by the Atlantic Council on the sidelines of the ongoing IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, he spoke on investment, self-sufficiency, and why profit must be tied to purpose, declaring that true success lies not in wealth accumulation, but in meeting Africa’s needs and inspiring others to follow. Nume Ekeghe brings the excerpts:
You recently said that the Dangote Refinery is actively supplying not just Nigeria, but also West, Central, and even East Africa. Can Africa become energy independent and sovereign?
Well, Africa will become self-sufficient, maybe in the next couple of years, maybe by 2028. At the moment, we (Dangote Refinery) are not only serving Africa; we are the major supplier of jet fuel to the UK as we speak. We also export gasoline to the UK. There’s nothing that we are not actually producing in terms of quality. So, we have 650,000 barrels per day, which we tested; we have been able to achieve about 661,000 barrels per day. And that’s way more than what the country, Nigeria, can take. In fact, during this crisis, we have saved a lot of other African countries that demanded for assistance. And we are getting calls every day. What we are doing, really, is giving African countries first choice. Yes, I know it’s an open market, but this refinery was set up not to target any other market, but to target African markets. So, what are we doing going forward? As you asked, we have a very ambitious programme across all our businesses. We are looking at areas where we have a lack of investment in Africa, like infrastructure. We are building the deepest port, with an 80-meter draft. We are starting with two kilometres, and we are going to keep expanding. Our intention is to have the largest port in Africa. Today, the biggest issue that we have, especially in Nigeria, is that we have critical minerals, but we cannot export these critical minerals because we don’t have the infrastructure. There is no capacity in the ports that we have. We mainly have Apapa and Tin Can, the two major ports, which are congested. There is a third port opposite our refinery in Lekki, but this new port only handles containers. So, what we are trying to do is to open the country by allowing people to export all these sorts of minerals that they have, even though the intention is for us to make sure we process our own minerals before exports. It is the reason that we are talking to countries like Zambia and others about power. We are not in power, but we are generating a lot. In the next few years, we are going to add about 2,000 megawatts. We are now at about 1,500 megawatts.
But going forward on the refinery, let me start with the refinery. We are taking the refinery to 1.4 million barrels per day. And that will make us the largest refinery in the world.
What about the main challenges? You mentioned the infrastructure gaps?
The infrastructure gap—we have already covered all that because we had to build a port. We had to do a 10-lane road, over 100 kilometres, to decongest the area. The only thing that we did not do there is the air we breathe. But we have done all the infrastructure, and that is why, when you look at this expansion that we have — because for us to make the land habitable, we had to actually de-bush the whole place. The place is 30 million square meters, so it’s not a small issue.
And what about the skills?
For our group, in total, we have about 150,000 people now directly, we have about 34,800, and then the rest as indirect. There are some countries where labour laws are very strict. So what we do is that we have contractors that we subcontract to run those operations, because we don’t want to be dealing with so many issues in terms of government policies and so on.
Apart from that, we have challenges in polypropylene. We have about a million tonnes now. We are taking it to 2.5 million tonnes, and then we realised that there is a big shortage of fertilizer. When the Ukraine-Russia war started, the Chairman of the African Union was then President Macky Sall of Senegal. He had to go and beg Russia to see how we could get supplies. And since that day, the Dangote Group announced that no, it will never happen again. So, we are doing 12 million tonness of urea. And very soon, in Congo Brazzaville, we will start doing potash and phosphate. So, we want to go to a minimum of 20 African countries.
You are operating across the continent. What about the African Free Trade Area? Does it help you support these cross-continental efforts?
We are operating based on regional markets, for example, a country like Ethiopia says, we like fertilizer. So, what do we do? We are building 3 million tonness there—whether it’s enough or too much—but they have neighbouring countries that they can assist. They found gas, so we are doing that. So, the Africa Free Trade Area will work, but it can only work when the regional markets work. The regional markets must work first, because the dotted points across these regional markets, if they are not working, you cannot have one single market. And you also have to remember that there are a lot of international interests, I’m sorry to say, international interests not wanting to see Africa grow. So, that is why I keep asking what is even our legacy, what do we want to leave behind?
How do you see the support of African governments to the business sector? And what advice would you provide to international partners who want to invest in Africa?
Firstly, on support from African governments, some governments are very supportive, and some of them don’t really understand exactly what to do and we are very busy trying to make them understand that anywhere you set up a business, at the end of the day, the major beneficiary is government. Because today, government—you can go now, you want to run for election or do whatever—you will say you want to do A, B, C, D, but as a government, you cannot actually create jobs. The only engine of growth is the private sector that would raise money and even borrow money to create jobs. So, if you don’t partner with the private sector, it is like trying to clap with one hand. You then look like a sick person. So, they actually have to partner with us. So, it is just like, we haven’t really had any refinery in Africa for many years. Even the ones started in other countries have not been succeeding because there are so many interests preventing that. Today, the biggest refinery ever built was by Saudi Aramco, 460,000 barrels. Because we are not government, we are private sector, we now said we want to build something 50 per cent more than that. Even the licensors—UOP, part of Honeywell—said, “Mr. Dangote, you are crazy.” I said no, let’s sit down and make it possible. We took 76 engineers to Chicago. About 340 engineers that had been working, with a minimum experience of about 28 years. I said, work out something—how can we do that? Government will not be able to do that, but when the government lays down policies that make investment attractive, then you move in and do it.
For the second question, foreigners will invest, but they are very smart people. When you talk about risk, they want to look at it 10 times. So how can we de-risk that? The only way is for Africans to lead and show that the risk is a perceived, not a real risk. If I’m not investing in Africa, I cannot convince anyone else outside the continent to invest. So, I must invest to show that this risk is a perceived risk. Of course there is no where there is no risk – China, Asia, -there are risks, but you have to know how to mitigate this risk. But that is why I keep advising some of my friends that in terms of cash, there might be some of them who have more money than me. So, I tell them, don’t keep that money in a foreign bank, bring it home and invest. The place is good. Bring it back home. We have this problem of always looking for investors. Foreign investors will not come because they are smarter than us. They can only come when you invest your own money, when they see that we are committed and that we are serious. Then, they will join you. As they say, two heads are better than one—once you start, others will follow. Another issue is fragmented capital markets in Africa. We have said this refinery is for Africa and we are doing quite a lot. Between now and 2030, we are going to invest about $40 billion. We want to be the first African company in the top 100 globally, with $100 billion in revenue. It is a tall order, but it is possible. We like challenges—we set targets we struggle to meet, and this one is very easy—we will meet it.
We are in Washington, DC, for the Spring Meetings—how would you assess relations between Africa and the United States?
The relationship is there, but right now the US is very busy. They are not yet focusing on Africa. But the future is Africa. You don’t do things for today—you do things for the future and for decades to come. With the Iran war, for example, it has shown that people must diversify risk. Countries that depended on Kuwait or others for gas and petroleum are now under pressure. They must mitigate that risk. When Africans get serious, all these talk about potential will be realised. These potential are there, but we must work to realise them. As of 2007, Nigeria used to produced less than two million tonnes. Under Kayode Fayemi as Minister of Solid Minerals, production grew to 65 million tonnes—and it’s still growing. But the entire Saudi Arabia produces about that level today. So what seems impossible in Africa is actually possible—and we will lead in making it happen.
What legacy would you like to leave behind—your business or your foundation? What do you owe your parents, your family and Nigeria?
Let me say both, because our business is not just about making money. It is to meet Africa’s needs. Not just Nigeria, we are in several countries, and we don’t want the prosperity limited to one place. We want to show other African countries that this is possible, don’t get scared, we have done it, and we want to show you how to do it. We will encourage entrepreneurs in some other countries and demonstrate how it can be done. So, in terms of what we want to leave behind as a legacy, on the business side, we are investing aggressively in infrastructure—power and ports. We are building pipelines across countries, including 2,650 kilometres of pipelines. In places like Zambia, instead of exporting raw copper, we want to process it locally. We want to lead in key areas so others will look at it and see that it is easy, and others will follow, or even foreign investors will be inspired to join. With that, we will create prosperity. How do you create prosperity for legacy? It is by listing those companies that Africans can invest. We want to go to different countries, and they will buy, and we will also guarantee in terms of dividends. Their dividends will be in dollars to preserve value, especially given currency devaluation challenges. On the foundation side, as a Muslim, I am allowed to donate one-third of my wealth. But because I don’t want any argument if anything happens to me from my children or anybody. But I know my children will not go into that because they are actually more aggressive than myself. But what I did was that my main benefactors, that is, those who would benefit from me when I pass, either my mother, who is 88 now, or my three other daughters, I got them to sign an agreement that one-third of my wealth will go to the Aliko Dangote Foundation, ensuring the good work we are doing continues.
