Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has called on wealthy Nigerians and African entrepreneurs to channel their resources into local investments to stimulate growth and development across the continent.
Speaking in a recent media chat, Dangote decried the persistent trend of capital flight among African elites, stressing that true national development is only achievable through homegrown investment.
“No nation develops without significant investments,” he said. “I appeal to all wealthy Nigerians to look inward and invest here, in Nigeria, for the future of our unborn kids.
There is hardly any country without corruption, but in other countries, stolen funds are at least invested in their economies, unlike here where they are kept in foreign banks that add nothing to our development.”
The billionaire industrialist, whose recently completed $20 billion Dangote Refinery is now the largest single-train refinery in the world, said his decision to push through the massive project was driven by a deep desire to help Nigeria achieve energy independence and economic transformation.
According to him, despite numerous challenges—including technical, financial, and regulatory setbacks—his team pressed on when others doubted the viability of the project.
“People think building a refinery is like building a house,” he said. “If I had known the scale of the challenges, I might never have started. But we believed nothing is impossible.”
Dangote noted that many sovereign nations had failed to complete similar infrastructure, making the feat by his privately-owned firm even more remarkable.
He said the project reached a critical point where the group had to choose between abandoning it and taking huge losses or pushing forward in defiance of the odds.
He stressed that the refinery—designed to process 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day—was more than a business venture. It is a statement of Africa’s potential to solve its own problems, especially in energy and industrial development.
“Except for Algeria and Libya, virtually every other African country is an importer of refined petroleum products despite having crude oil. That has made us a dumping ground for substandard fuel,” he said.
With over 125 billion barrels of proven oil reserves across Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Egypt, and Libya, Dangote believes that Africa has no excuse to remain dependent on foreign refineries.
He urged African leaders and business elites to invest in refining and value-added industries rather than exporting raw materials and importing finished products.
He also pointed out that real independence extends beyond political sovereignty.
“True independence means economic self-reliance and financial freedom for our people,” he said. “As long as we continue importing what we can produce, we will remain trapped in poverty.”
Dangote expressed optimism that the refinery’s success would serve as a catalyst for similar bold investments across Africa, driving job creation and sustainable development for the continent’s fast-growing population.
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