Dangote links power shortages in Nigeria to stolen funds hidden abroad

During a recent tour of the Dangote Refinery in Lagos, the president of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, highlighted how unreasonable it is for a country of over 200 million people to be limited to 4,500 to 5,000 megawatts (MW) of power.

“We as a company alone are producing, group-wide for our own consumption, over 1,500 MW,” he stated.

"So, Nigeria should not be three times what we are producing as a country. Nigeria should be at about 50,000 MW to 60,000 MW,” Dangote added.

The Nigerian business mogul, whose refinery and fertilizer plants are among Africa's largest, explained that his company's investment in energy demonstrates how private sector engagement in power generating can be game-changing.

He encouraged Nigeria's government to further open up the industry to encourage private investment and involvement.

Dangote, who has spent the last decade developing the $20 billion refinery project, also stated that, while establishing the refinery was extremely tough, increasing Nigeria's power generating capacity to 30,000 MW is far easier - provided the appropriate policies and commitments are in place.

“What we have done here just shows that there’s nothing impossible. All this can be replicated in our power sector. There’s no reason why Nigeria should be doing 5,000 MW,” Dangote asserted.

“What we have actually done here is much more difficult than making Nigeria 25,000 or 30,000 megawatts of power, with transmission and distribution. But it’s not the work of the government alone,” he continued.

Dangote's comments come as his refinery, which is projected to drastically cut Nigeria's dependency on foreign petroleum products, ramps up operations.

Dangote links power shortages to a lack of investment and stolen funds hidden abroad

Much like the fact that such a facility which is typically supposed to be a government initiative is now privately owned, the Nigerian philanthropist noted that the power sector is also privatized, which presents an opportunity for investors.

“We, the private sector, Nigerians, most especially us, should stop taking our money abroad and invest the money here to make sure that we develop our own country and continent, because without us showing the confidence that, yes, we have confidence in our own economy and the leadership of the country, foreigners will not come,” Dangote explained.

“We know our leaders; we have confidence in them. So, that money they’re taking out of the country, they should leave it here so that it can benefit everybody.”

As reported by the Punch newspaper, he criticized people who stole public assets and hid them overseas rather than utilizing them to help develop the country, as he connected capital flight to stunted growth.

“I keep saying this: there’s nowhere that you will say that there’s no corruption. There are lots of countries that have more corruption than we do, but they are growing. Our biggest problem and challenge is that people who have stolen money have taken the money abroad,” he said.

“So, the money has no use to them; it has no use to their family because they cannot show their family that they have stolen money. And they are not investing here to grow the domestic economy.”

By Chinedu Okafor, Business Insider Africa

Related story: Solar power producer Sun King targets triple growth in Nigeria

Dangote plans construction of Nigeria’s largest seaport

Aliko Dangote is forging ahead with a proposal to build a seaport in Ogun State to facilitate exports, including liquefied natural gas.

The move is expected to accelerate an expansion of Mr Dangote’s conglomerate, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing an interview with Africa’s richest man.

An application to authorities last month, according to the outlet, sought “to build the biggest, deepest port in Nigeria” in Olokola.

The free trade zone was initially considered as the host of Mr Dangote’s mega oil refinery and petrochemical plant, now situated on the outskirts of Lagos, before an impasse with the government thwarted the plan.

The port is conceived to connect the Dangote group’s logistics and export operations in Lagos, including Lekki Deep Sea Port, through which it currently ships petroleum products and fertilisers overseas.

“It’s not that we want to do everything by ourselves, but I think doing this will encourage other entrepreneurs to come into it,” Bloomberg quoted Mr Dangote as saying.

Betting on LNG exports requires the laying of pipelines from the Niger Delta, all the way to Lagos, an ambitious pursuit intended to overtake Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) as Africa’s biggest LNG exporter.

“We want to do a major project to bring more gas than what NLNG is doing today,” said Devakumar Edwin, a vice president of the group.

“We know where there is a lot of gas, so run a pipeline all through and then bring it to the shore,” he added.

The group exports fertiliser to the US, Brazil, Mexico, India, and recently disclosed an aspiration to set up a fertiliser plant in Ethiopia, which will help Africa’s second most populous nation develop production capacity.

The ambition is, nevertheless, far bigger than that, given plans to topple Qatar as the foremost manufacturer of urea in the next 40 months and to also make Africa self-sufficient in fertiliser within the same time frame.

The 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery, the continent’s largest, began operations in 2024 after years of construction delays.

Construction of storage tanks to hold a minimum of 1.6 million litres of petrol and diesel in Namibia is in the works.

Mr Dangote hopes to list the petrochemical business on the local stock exchange in Lagos this year and the refinery on the bourse next year.

By Ronald Adamolekun, BBC

Billions wasted on broken refineries - Africa's richest man tells his side of the story

Dangote, CEO of the Dangote group recently called into question the likelihood of the state-owned Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries being operational again.

He did this at his own oil refinery, where he gave members of the Global CEO Africa from the Lagos Business School a tour of the facility while highlighting the ludicrous amount already spent on reviving the state-owned refineries.

Dangote specified that his refinery, which he initiated after the country's 16th head of state, the late President Umar Yar'adua's cancelled his plans to acquire government refineries, now produces more than 50% of its output in the form of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), while even government refineries only devote 22% of their output to this product.

“The refineries that we bought before, which were owned by Nigeria, were doing about 22 per cent of PMS. We bought the refineries in January 2007. Then we had to return them to the government because there was a change of government,” he stated.

“And the managing director at that time convinced Yar’adua that the refineries would work. They said they just gave them to us as a parting gift or so.

And as of today, they have spent about $18bn on those refineries, and they are still not working. And I don’t think, and I doubt very much if they will work,” he added.

The Nigerian billionaire emphasized that the refineries' turnaround maintenance was similar to attempting to update a car that was manufactured forty years ago, even though technology had since evolved, as reported by the Punch.

“(The turnaround maintenance) is like you trying to modernize a car that was built 40 years ago, when technology and everything have changed.

Even if you change the engine, the body will not be able to take the shock of that new technology engine,” he elaborated.

Dangote's statement corroborated the claims of Yar’adua predecessor, former president Olusegun Obasanjo last year on the refineries, two of which were closed when Mele Kyari, the former NNPC Group Managing Director, declared them open.

The NNPC understood it was unable to handle the refineries, according to Obasanjo, who further stated that when he asked foreign oil corporations like Shell to run the facilities, they refused.

Aliko Dangote and other Nigerians had invested $750 million to gain control of the refineries, but his successor Yar'adua annulled the agreement, according to Obasanjo.

What Obasanjo had said

“So, why do we do this kind of thing to ourselves? NNPC knew that they could not do it, but they knew they could eat and carry on with the corruption that was going on in NNPC. When people were there to do it, they put pressure. In a civilized society, those people should be in jail,”

Obasanjo had stated. Again, in January, Obasanjo said, “I was told not too long ago that since that time, more than $2bn have been squandered on the refineries and they still will not work.

“If a company like Shell tells me what they told me, I will believe them. If anybody tells you now that it (the refinery) is working, why are they now with Aliko (Dangote)? And Aliko will make his refinery work; not only make it work, he will make it deliver.”

By Chinedu Okafor, Business Insider Africa

Dangote set to Export Coal From Nigeria

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, announced that he will begin exporting coal from Nigeria soon, another source of income for Dangote Industries Limited’s (DIL) growing revenue base.

Dangote also revealed the company aims to generate between $6.05 million and $7 million daily from fertilizer exports over the next two years. As some of you who visited our cement factory in Itori may know, we already export cement from Nigeria.

“We have a six million-ton cement export factory,” he stated. “We will begin exporting coal from Nigeria in the coming weeks. We will export nearly eight cargoes of fertilizer.

The refinery operations will export less than 25 million tons of various products. Dangote claims that once the export program begins, the company will become a significant source of foreign exchange.

Dangote continues to expand its influence in the Nigerian market. The billionaire Aliko Dangote’s conglomerate is focusing on agriculture after significant investments in cement, sugar, and oil. Soon, a new rice mill will be built on a 30-hectare plot of land in Wushishi, Niger State.

The Wushishi project represents an additional step toward increased environmental sustainability. Moreover, it can enhance rural economies, create local jobs, and provide opportunities for regional paddy producers. Thus, concerning food security and agricultural transformation, the Dangote Group intends to support the goals of the Nigerian government.

Dangote aims to control the entire ecosystem by specializing in agriculture, from the field to the processing facility. This whole-chain strategy strengthens the nation’s economy.

By Olumide Adesina, FXLeaders

Related story: Nigeria's Dangote refinery agrees to export polypropylene with Vinmar

Nigeria's Dangote refinery agrees to export polypropylene with Vinmar

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals said it will partner with Vinmar Group, an international petrochemicals distribution company, to bring Dangote polypropylene to global markets.

Dangote’s $2 billion Petrochemical Plant in Lagos with 830MT tonnes capacity, began producing polypropylene in March, in 25kg bags for the local market.

"We’re pleased to partner Vinmar to introduce Dangote Polypropylene to the global markets," said Fatima Aliko Dangote, an executive director at Dangote Group at the launch of the facility on Wednesday.

Nigeria currently imports 90% of its annual polypropylene requirements amounting to 250,000 metric tonnes per year. The Dangote facility seeks to not only meet local demand but become a net exporter
Fully operational, the facility is set to become Africa’s largest polypropylene production site, producing from two polypropylene units with capacities of 500,000 mt/year and 330,000 mt/year.

By Isaac Anyaogu, Reuters

Dangote could have made $120b from big tech, but he chose to build for Nigeria

 

The Nigerian government has praised billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote for prioritising national development over potential windfalls from global tech investments, in a tribute that stresses the importance of the $19 billion Dangote Refinery.

Speaking at the opening of the Taraba International Investment Summit 2025 in Jalingo, Vice President Kashim Shettima, who represented President Tinubu, stressed that business mogul Aliko Dangote could have chosen to channel his resources into lucrative international companies like Microsoft, Amazon, or Google.

“I want to celebrate the greatest black man in the last 300 years, who single-handedly established the largest single train refinery in the world..."

“He started this project in 2007/2008. If he had invested the $19 billion that it took him to set up the Dangote Refinery in Microsoft, in Amazon, in Google, he is going to be worth $120 billion now,"

“But he decided to invest in his own country. Alhaji Aliko Dangote, we are mightily proud of you,” he said.

He emphasised that Nigeria’s economic transformation must start at the grassroots level and be powered by locally sourced resources.

Dangote Refinery

The Dangote Refinery, the largest single-train oil refinery globally and the biggest in Africa, marks Aliko Dangote’s most ambitious project yet. Dangote’s net worth doubled to $28 billion last year following the launch of the Refinery. This milestone not only boosted his wealth from about $13 billion but also solidified his position as Africa’s richest man.

Designed to process 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, the refinery is expected to significantly reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported refined petroleum products, a long-standing issue in Africa’s biggest oil-producing nation.

Although delayed for several years, the Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest, built by the continent’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, officially began production of diesel, naphtha, and jet fuel in January last year, followed by petrol production in September.

The massive facility surpasses the capacity of Europe’s 10 largest refineries. According to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Dangote's oil push in Nigeria is already starting to disrupt the European oil market.

Economists suggest that the Dangote refinery could potentially end the long-standing gasoline trade from Europe to Africa, which is valued at $17 billion annually.

By Adekunle Agbetiloye, Business Insider Africa

Related story: Dangote’s fight for Nigeria’s oil future continues as he vows to defeat the cabal

Dangote’s fight for Nigeria’s oil future continues as he vows to defeat the cabal

The Nigerian billionaire, alluded to again, his a fight against some individuals in Nigeria's long-standing oil importation system, who have reaped enormous benefits from government subsidies on imported petroleum.

He noted that they are still deliberately attempting to destroy his oil refinery, as he stated, “those groups have funded resistance to the Bola Tinubu government’s removal of petrol subsidies and are opposed to the refinery operating easily in the country.”

He, nonetheless, like he did a few months back, noted that he would eventually win.

“We’re fighting, and the fight is not yet finished. But I have been fighting all my life, and I am ready and 100 per cent sure I will win at the end of the day,” Dangote added.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest individual, has a history of taking large-scale risks, but even he admits that his $23 billion oil refinery project is the most daring and difficult enterprise of his life.

While the Dangote Refinery has been hailed as a game-changing project for Nigeria's energy sector, its journey from concept to reality has shown the country's oil industry's profound intricacies and vested interests, notably in refining.

The Dangote Refinery, located on a 6,200-acre site in the Lekki Free Zone, is the world’s largest single-train refinery.

The plant officially began operations in 2023, after more than a decade of construction and investment. However, the refinery's real challenge began after its launch.

Dangote's current remarks coincided with Nigeria's efforts to expand its capacity to store petroleum products in anticipation of shocks to the world oil market after US President Donald Trump disrupted international commerce by threatening to impose tariffs, as reported by the Punch newspaper.

Dangote refinery vs players in the oil market

One of Dangote's most notable conflicts has been with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The NNPC initially offered to invest $1 billion for a 20% ownership interest in the refinery.

That offer was eventually reduced to 7%, with requests to reclaim a portion of the funds previously deposited.

Outside of this, the group had also complicated the process of the refinery sourcing crude as it initially mandated that the refinery purchase crude oil in dollars.

This was later mitigated by the Naira-for-Crude initiative, which allowed the refinery to purchase crude in the country’s local currency for six months, thereby reducing the cost of operation.

After six months, the initiative was halted again before being reintroduced, highlighting the complex market structure of the Nigerian oil sector.

Dangote is unreserved in his condemnation of the group, as he, in February, in an interview with Forbes, accused the group of being a part of the country's "oil mafia."

“The oil mafia is more deadly than the one in drugs because, with the oil mafia, there are so many people that are involved,” Dangote had said at the time.

“I’ve been fighting battles all my life, and I have not lost one yet.

You might be wining and dining with them, but these are the guys that are the masters of moving things around.”


Support from IPMAN

As Dangote stays ongoing fighting the 'cabal', the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria declared their support for him.

“Well, this is business. Competition abounds. There is no businessman whom people will not fight if he is doing well, especially when it is only your goods that are being produced, and the others are not being patronised because of the price.

So, it is evident that every businessman wants to survive. It’s not an issue. What we can do is encourage him,” IPMAN Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Udadike, stated.

“We independent marketers are happy with him for his price slashes, although sometimes it’s against our own business strategy and projections. But that is part of the business, it is profit and loss.

So, if he’s talking about how people want to sabotage him, he has told us that he’s ready to fight the oil cabals, and he is in this business to ensure that Nigerians don’t suffer.

So, we encourage him not to lose hope, and we independent marketers support him in all ramifications,” Ukadike added.

By Chinedu Okafor, Business Insider Africa

Related story: Nigeria's richest man Aliko Dangote takes on the 'oil mafia'

Video - Dangote Refinery cuts petrol prices across Nigeria twice in one week

The price now stands at 835 Naira per liter, roughly equivalent to 52 U.S. cents. Industry analysts suggest that this aggressive pricing strategy aims to capture market share, undercut the cost of imported fuel, and apply downward pressure on domestic fuel prices. But consumers are happy that the oil prices are going down.

CGTN

Dangote refinery receives first crude cargo in Nigeria

The Dangote oil refinery in Nigeria on Friday received its first cargo of 1 million barrels of crude oil from Shell International Trading and Shipping Co (STASCO), bringing the start of operations closer after years of delays.

Once fully running, the 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery funded by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote will turn oil powerhouse Nigeria into a net exporter of fuels, a long-sought goal for the OPEC member that almost totally relies on imports.

Dangote Group said in a statement seen by Reuters on Friday that the cargo of 1 million barrels of crude from Agbami - a deep water field run by Chevron (CVX.N) - was the first of 6 million barrels that would enable an initial run of the refinery.

That will kick-start output of diesel, aviation fuel and Liquefied Petroleum Gas, before the refinery later starts producing Premium Motor Spirit.

A Dangote Group spokesperson said the STASCO cargo arrived on a chartered vessel and was discharged into the refinery's crude oil tanks.

The next four cargoes will be supplied by state oil firm NNPC in two to three weeks and a final cargo will come from ExxonMobil (XOM.N), Dangote Group's statement said.

Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC Ltd signed an agreement in November to supply the Dangote refinery with up to six cargoes of crude starting this month. NNPC has a 20% stake in the refinery.

Despite being Africa's biggest oil producer, Nigeria experiences repeated fuel shortages. It spent $23.3 billion last year on petroleum product imports and consumes around 33 million litres of petrol a day.

"Our focus over the coming months is to ramp up the refinery to its full capacity," Dangote was quoted as saying in the statement.

Nigeria commissioned the refinery in May, after it ran years behind schedule. At a cost of $19 billion, the massive petrochemical complex is one of Nigeria's single largest investments.

By Macdonald Dzirutwe, Reuters

Video - Aljazeera speaks with Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote

Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote is building the world's largest refinery in Nigeria

Dangote oil refinery to help solve fuel shortage in Nigeria

Africa's biggest oil refiner launched in Nigeria

Africa's biggest oil refinery has been opened in Nigeria, where it is hoped it will alleviate chronic fuel shortages.

Nigeria is a major oil producer but most of this is sent abroad while it has to import the refined fuel used in vehicles and elsewhere.

As a result the country often faces chronic fuel shortages.

This is the problem that the $19bn (£15.2bn) refinery, owned by Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, is intended to tackle.

"This is a game-changer for the Nigerian people," said President Muhammadu Buhari.

The plant, which is not yet operational, has the capacity to produce about 650,000 barrels of petroleum products a day - more than enough to supply the country's needs. It also includes a power station, deep seaport and fertiliser plant.

Nigeria's existing refineries have been completely shut down for over three years owing to oil theft, pipeline vandalism and structural neglect.

If it works as planned, the plant could make a real change to the lives of Nigerians: "Every time there is fuel scarcity, I don't open my shop because there's no light [electricity] to work and I can't buy fuel for my generator," a young hairdresser from Lagos told the BBC.

At Monday's launch, Mr Dangote outlined his hopes for the refinery: "Our first goal is to ramp up production of the various products to ensure that within this year, we are able to fully satisfy the nation's demand for quality products."

However, it is not clear what impact the plant will have on the price of fuel in a country where retail prices are subsidised. The government says these subsidies will soon be removed - last year they took up at least a quarter of the national budget.

Mr Dangote's plant in Lagos, which took nearly seven years to build, is said to be the world's largest single-train refinery, meaning the plant has one integrated distillery system which can produce a variety of products and petrochemicals, instead of having different units for each type of product.

It is one of the last major projects to be inaugurated by President Buhari, who steps down next week after serving two terms in office.

President Buhari will hand power to Bola Tinubu, who won disputed presidential elections in February.

Oil and gas expert Henry Adigun told the BBC that Monday's launch was "more political than technical".

Nkechi Ogbonna & Cecilia Macaulay, BBC

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Video - Dangote Refinery in Nigeria nears completion

Nigerian billionaire Dangote launches $2.5 billion fertilizer plant as prices soar

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote opened a 3-million-tonne fertilizer plant at a cost of $2.5 billion on Tuesday to target African and foreign markets even as the war in Ukraine has driven up prices for natural gas, a key ingredient for making urea.

Dangote said exports from the plant will go to Brazil, which relies heavily on Russia for imports of fertilizer. Shipments will also go to the United States, India and Mexico, he said at the launch.

Fertilizer prices have been rising at a time when planting usually picks up around the world, especially after Russia, the world's biggest exporter of fertilizer, invaded Ukraine last month. The war has also disrupted shipping.

The plant, commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari and located at the Lekki Free Zone in Lagos State, is designed to produce 3 million tonnes of urea per year and supply all the major markets in sub-Saharan Africa.

Many in Nigeria hope the Dangote plant will help alleviate chronically low crop yields in Africa's most populous country, partly due to insufficient access to fertilizer.

Agriculture accounts for 20% of Nigeria's gross domestic product, with crop production contribution the highest with the farming subsector.

However, low fertilizer production and the high cost of importing fertilisers has reined in seed production. Fertilizer consumption in Nigeria ranks below its African peers.

According to the World Bank, Nigeria consumed around 20 kg of fertiliser per hectare of arable land in 2018, compared with 73 kg in South Africa and 393 kg in China.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has barred the use of its foreign exchange for fertiliser imports as part of a raft of controls aimed at boosting domestic production.

Other producers in Nigeria include Notore (NOTORE.LG), which has the capacity to produce 500,000 metric tonnes per annum of urea, and Singapore-owned Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Ltd, which plans to double its annual output of urea fertilizer to 2.8 million tonnes.

Reuters

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