Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive of the Dangote Group, has said the planned listing of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals on the Nigerian Exchange is aimed at broadening wealth creation opportunities and allowing Africans to directly participate in the continent’s industrial transformation.
Dangote made the disclosure during a visit by executives of South Africa’s Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), and Alterra Capital Partners to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals and Dangote Fertiliser Limited in Lagos.
The South African delegation included Chairperson of GEPF, Frans Baleni; Principal Executive Officer of GEPF, Musa Mabesa; Deputy Chairperson of PIC, Mongwena Maluleke; Chief Executive Officer of PIC, Patrick Dlamini; and Managing Partner of Alterra Capital Partners, Genevieve Sangudi.
The visit comes amid increasing investor interest in Africa-driven industrialisation and infrastructure development. GEPF is Africa’s largest defined benefit pension fund, managing retirement benefits for over 1.8 million South African public sector workers, while PIC remains the continent’s largest asset manager.
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Speaking during the engagement, Dangote said Africa’s next phase of economic growth must be built around large-scale industrial projects capable of creating jobs, strengthening local production capacity, and generating long-term prosperity across the continent.
“We are opening the doors for investors to participate directly in Africa’s industrial future and the prosperity it will create,” Dangote stated.
According to him, the refinery project demonstrates the enormous untapped opportunities within Africa’s energy sector, especially as many African countries continue to rely heavily on imported refined petroleum products despite rising industrial and consumer demand.
Dangote explained that the Group’s long-term investment strategy is anchored on Africa’s growing energy requirements and the urgent need for regional refining capacity capable of supplying multiple markets across the continent.
He noted that demand for products such as aviation fuel, polypropylene, and refined petroleum products has already surpassed initial expectations, further reinforcing the commercial viability of the refinery and influencing 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,” he said.
Following a tour of the refinery and fertiliser complex in Ibeju-Lekki, Frans Baleni described the project as a strong indication that Africa possesses the capacity to execute world-class industrial infrastructure projects when supported by visionary leadership, technical expertise, and patient capital.
“If it can be done anywhere else in the world, it can be done in Africa,” Baleni said.
“This project has shown that the continent is capable of achieving world-class industrialisation at scale.”
He added that the significance of the Dangote Refinery extends beyond Nigeria, noting that the project is reshaping global perceptions of Africa’s industrial capability.
“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,” he said.
“For too long, projects of this magnitude have been associated with other parts of the world. The Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex is a powerful demonstration that, with visionary leadership and long-term capital, that perception no longer holds. This is the kind of African-led industrial scale that institutional investors on this continent should be backing.”
On his part, Patrick Dlamini described the refinery as one of the most transformative industrial projects undertaken in Africa, adding that it is changing global perceptions about the continent’s economic potential.
Quoting former South African President Nelson Mandela, Dlamini said: “It always looks impossible until it’s done. This project is redefining the story of Africa and the possibilities of Africa.”
He disclosed that PIC, which manages approximately $230 billion in assets largely on behalf of GEPF, is actively exploring long-term investment partnerships focused on infrastructure, industrialisation, and economic transformation across Africa.
“PIC’s mandate is to deploy long-term, patient capital in service of industrialisation, infrastructure and economic transformation across Africa,” Dlamini said.
“What we have seen today reinforces our conviction that the next chapter of African prosperity will be written through partnership between African institutional capital and African industrial champions.”
“There is real strategic alignment between Dangote’s industrial agenda and how we are positioning our portfolio, and we look forward to exploring meaningful avenues for collaboration.”
According to Dlamini, poverty, unemployment, and economic exclusion remain major contributors to instability across Africa, making industrialisation and large-scale job creation essential to the continent’s long-term growth and development.
