Building 700,000 bpd refinery was “biggest business risk” of my life, Dangote admits

Aliko Dangote, president and chief executive of Dangote Industries Limited, has called the 700,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Petroleum Refinery the biggest business risk of his career, telling a visiting delegation from Nigeria’s Ministry of Industry that financiers doubted the project would ever be finished.

The remarks came Wednesday as John Enoh, minister of state for industry, led a tour of the refinery, the adjoining petrochemicals complex and Dangote Fertiliser Limited in Lagos, facilities the government is casting as central to President Bola Tinubu’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy.

Dangote said the project weathered the Covid-19 pandemic, foreign-exchange volatility and skepticism from lenders before coming online. He said its completion proves Nigerian entrepreneurs can execute projects of global scale.

“What we have achieved here has never been done before on this scale,” Dangote said. “Once one person succeeds, many others will be encouraged to follow.”

At full capacity, the refinery will equal roughly 10 percent of United States refining capacity and consume about 2.5 percent of globally traded crude, Dangote said.

He pressed the government to keep backing indigenous investors, calling them the country’s strongest source of jobs, foreign-exchange earnings and long-term economic resilience.

Dangote also disclosed that his conglomerate recently sold an unsecured, unrated bond at a yield below Nigeria’s sovereign benchmark, a sign, he said, of investor confidence in credible domestic companies when policy stays predictable. He argued that policy consistency, more than incentives, is what draws capital.

“There is no way to create jobs and prosperity without industrialisation,” Dangote said, adding that the success of local investors is the biggest draw for foreign capital. “When local investors thrive, they send a powerful signal that the environment is conducive for investment.”

Enoh, who toured the complex with directors and agency heads from his ministry, said the visit reinforced the refinery’s role in the government’s newly unveiled Nigeria Industrial Policy, which targets raising manufacturing’s share of GDP to about 20 percent by 2030 and 25 percent by 2035.

“You cannot be Minister in charge of Industry and not visit the Dangote Refinery,” Enoh said. “This facility matters because of what it represents for Nigerian industry, for our people and for the realisation of President Bola Tinubu’s vision of a one trillion-dollar economy.”

The minister said the refinery has helped flip Nigeria’s status from a major importer of refined fuel to an exporter, pointing to shipments to the Middle East during global supply disruptions. He also brushed aside concerns about the plant’s single-train design, saying output continued through scheduled maintenance.

“The issues surrounding the single-train configuration are much clearer now,” Enoh said. “Even during scheduled maintenance, operations continued.”

The government pledged to keep engaging Dangote Industries through its Industrial Revolution Work Group and ministerial roundtables, particularly on access to affordable, long-term financing for manufacturers, a persistent complaint among Nigerian industrialists.

Enoh praised Dangote as “Nigeria’s foremost industrialist” and credited him with backing the industrial policy’s launch. Dangote, in turn, singled out Enoh’s commitment as unusual among the ministers he has worked with over the years.

“We have worked with many Ministers of Industry over the years, but I can confidently say that his commitment is exceptional,” Dangote said.