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Africa's richest man told Nicolai Tangen, chief executive of the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, that the Dangote Group has rejected requests by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to enlarge its 7.25% stake in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, preferring to take the $20 billion Lekki plant public instead.
"The national oil company already owns 7.25%, and they are trying to buy more. We are the ones that said no. We want to now spread it and have everybody be part of it," Dangote said. He framed government policy inconsistency as one of the biggest risks to his businesses, alongside civil war, which he said was "not in the offing at all."
The NNPC angle has been controversial since 2021, when the state firm bought its 7.25% slice for $1 billion with an option to lift its position to 20% by June 2024. The agency, under former group chief executive Mele Kyari, let that option lapse and stayed at 7.25%, a fact Dangote made public in 2024.
The refinery is now generating cash worth queuing for. Dangote said the plant is running at 661,000 barrels a day, above its 650,000 nameplate, and that he plans to roughly double capacity to 1.4 million barrels a day within 30 months. Q1 2026 petrol supply from local refineries hit 3.18 billion liters against imports of 965.52 million liters, with the average ex-depot price near N1,000 ($0.67) a liter, implying domestic sales above N3.2 trillion ($2.1 billion).
The Middle East war is also stretching margins. Dangote said fertilizer prices have moved from $400 a ton in February to $850 and polypropylene from $900 to about $3,000, while the refinery's jet fuel is oversold through mid-July at output of 20 million liters a day. Crude sourcing leans on Nigeria for 56%, with Angola, Libya and the US making up the rest, and the group buys roughly 21 cargoes a month.
The group's broader plan is bigger still. Dangote said he aims to inject $45 billion into the businesses, push revenue to $100 billion by 2030 and aim for a market valuation above $250 billion. Last year's EBITDA was $3 billion. The 2030 target is more than $30 billion. Shareholders will collect dividends in dollars because roughly 80% of group revenue is dollar-denominated.
He kept the personal note short. To focus on the build, he sold his two US mansions and a UK home and now uses hotels instead of holiday properties.
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