Aliko Dangote activates Olokola Deep Sea Port plan as Vision 2030 push accelerates across Ogun and Ondo

Aliko Dangote is putting steel behind his Vision 2030 ambitions. Dangote Industries Limited has begun groundwork on the Olokola Deep Sea Port, a more than 10,000-hectare maritime and industrial complex straddling Ogun Waterside Local Government Area in Ogun State and the Ilaje Local Government Area in Ondo State, that the group says will become Africa's largest deep-water port.

The project sits at the heart of the Olokola Free Trade Zone on the Atlantic coast along the Gulf of Guinea, and Dangote Industries is treating it as the logistics backbone of its push toward $100 billion in annual revenue, a top-100 global ranking and a redrawn African industrial map by 2030.

Capt. Jamil Abubakar, the group's managing director for infrastructure and logistics, led management into the host communities this week. He told local leaders the port, once finished, would export fertilizer, petrochemicals and refined petroleum products from Dangote operations, underpin future liquefied natural gas exports and clear the way for heavy equipment and industrial imports into Nigeria.

"The Olokola Port project is a major step in opening up Nigeria's economic potential, strengthening trade, reducing pressure on existing ports and supporting industrial growth," Abubakar said. He framed the visits as the start of a continuous engagement program with host communities, alongside land and estate surveyors and environmental consultants now on the ground.

The reception was warm. The Lenuwa of Ode-Omi, Oba Folailu Adekunle Hassan, alongside chiefs and youth leaders, told the delegation the community had been waiting for the project and gave consent for surveying, enumeration and compensation work to begin. "Do your best and we will all benefit," the monarch said.

In Ondo, the Alara of Araromi Seaside Kingdom, Oba Adeoloye Olawole, was even more direct. "We can't wait for this project to commence. We are going to give you physical and spiritual support. If it is possible for this project to begin tomorrow, you are welcome," he said.

The Dangote team also visited the Nigerian Navy's Forward Operating Base in Igbokoda, where acting commanding officer Lt. Cmdr. A.A. Makinwa pledged cooperation.

The strategic logic stretches beyond Dangote's own balance sheet. The port should ease congestion at Apapa and Tin Can, anchor an export-led industrial cluster across two states and position Nigeria to capture more intra-African trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area. Jobs, contracts and downstream investments the project will pull in remain the open variables.