Africa’s richest man and president of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has disclosed that lenders would have seized his property if the choice to construct the $19 billion Dangote Refinery had gone fallacious.
Dangote stated this on Monday at a press convention marking the primary anniversary of petrol manufacturing from the 650,000-barrels-per-day facility.
Reflecting on the refinery’s improvement, Dangote admitted the venture carried huge danger. He recalled warnings from trade specialists, buyers, and authorities officers, each native and overseas, who argued that solely sovereign nations might efficiently execute such a large-scale enterprise.
“The choice to construct the refinery was not simple. If it had gone fallacious, lenders would have taken our property. However we believed in Nigeria and Africa,” he stated.
Acknowledging the hurdles confronted since inception, the billionaire burdened that the corporate’s imaginative and prescient was to rework Nigeria’s downstream sector.
“The journey has been difficult as a result of we sought to rework the downstream sector in Nigeria. Some believed we have been taking meals from their tables, which merely isn’t true. What we’ve performed is to make our nation and continent proud,” Dangote famous.
He lamented that almost all African nations nonetheless depend on gasoline imports. “Beforehand, solely two African nations weren’t importing petrol, however regrettably, they’ve since resumed imports. That is detrimental to Africa,” Dangote added.
In 2024, overseas oil merchants reportedly provided loans to supply working capital for the refinery in change for gasoline provides. And on August 4, the African Export-Import Financial institution (Afreximbank) introduced it had signed a $1.35 billion financing facility with the refinery.
