Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Group, says the planned listing of Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) is designed to democratise wealth creation and give Africans direct access to participate in the continent’s industrial transformation.
Dangote spoke during a visit by the leadership of South
Africa’s Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), alongside the Public
Investment Corporation (PIC) and Alterra Capital Partners, to the Dangote
Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals and Dangote Fertiliser Limited in
Lagos.
The delegation included: Frans Baleni, chairperson of GEPF,
Musa Mabesa, principal executive officer of GEPF, Mongwena Maluleke, deputy
chairperson of PIC, Patrick Dlamini, chief executive officer (CEO) of PIC, and
Genevieve Sangudi, managing partner of Alterra Capital Partners.
The visit comes amid growing investor interest in Africa-led
industrialisation and long-term infrastructure investments.
Speaking on the planned refinery listing, Dangote said
Africa’s next phase of economic growth must be anchored on large-scale
industrial projects capable of creating jobs, boosting local production and
generating broad-based prosperity.
“We are opening the doors for investors to participate
directly in Africa’s industrial future and the prosperity it will create,” the
chairman said.
According to the industrialist, the refinery project
reflects the scale of untapped opportunities in Africa’s energy market,
particularly as many countries on the continent still rely on imported refined
petroleum products despite growing industrial demand and rising consumption.
He said the group’s long-term investment strategy is driven
by Africa’s growing energy needs and the urgent need for regional refining
capacity that can serve multiple markets across the continent.
The billionaire also said demand for products such as
polypropylene, aviation fuel and refined petroleum products had exceeded
earlier projections, reinforcing the refinery’s commercial viability and
shaping future expansion plans.
“We thought about Nigeria first and then exports, but even
with our current production, we are practically living hand to mouth because
the market demand is extremely high,” Dangote said.
Speaking after touring the facilities in Ibeju-Lekki, Baleni
said the refinery demonstrates Africa’s ability to execute transformational
infrastructure projects when backed by visionary leadership, long-term
investment and technical expertise.
“If it can be done anywhere else in the world, it can be
done in Africa,” he said.
“This project has shown that the continent is capable of
achieving world-class industrialisation at scale.”
The GEPF chairperson said the significance of the refinery
extends beyond Nigeria, adding that it reshapes perceptions about Africa’s
industrial capacity.
“What has been built here is reshaping how the world should
think about African industrial capability and it should reshape how Africa
thinks about itself,” Baleni said.
On his part, Dlamini described the refinery as one of the
most transformative industrial projects undertaken on the continent.
He said PIC, which manages about $230 billion in assets on
behalf of South Africa’s Government Employees Pension Fund, is seeking
long-term partnerships focused on infrastructure development, industrialisation
and economic transformation across Africa.
The PIC chief added that poverty, unemployment and economic
exclusion remain major drivers of instability on the continent, making
industrialisation and large-scale job creation critical to Africa’s long-term
development.
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