Aliko Dangote picks power over steel with a $10 billion bet on Africa's grid

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote plans to invest more than $10 billion in electricity generation across Africa over the next three to four years and may cancel his long-discussed steel venture to pay for it, he said in an interview with Al Jazeera published Monday.

"There are one or two businesses that we might cancel, like steel, and we will put the money in power," Dangote said. "We want to invest over $10 billion alone in power."

The pivot comes a week into the record N2.15 trillion ($1.6 billion) initial public offering of his refinery, and days after he sketched out a $3.5 billion fuel pipeline across Southern Africa and a New York listing within four years. Power, he argued, sits underneath all of it. "We will never create growth without power," he said. "When I say power, I mean electricity is growth."

Why power, why now

Dangote framed the investment around a number: more than 600 million Africans with no electricity. "We Africans should not really allow over 600 million of our people to remain in darkness," he said.

He also gave politicians a nudge. A government that delivers reliable power, he said, "doesn't need to go for a campaign" when the next election comes.

The group already generates for itself. Its Lekki refinery runs a 501 MW plant and the neighboring fertilizer complex another 150 MW, Devakumar Edwin, the group's oil and gas chief, told editors on Friday, and Edwin said Dangote could eventually sell surplus power commercially if distribution and revenue collection can be fixed. That caveat is the whole Nigerian power problem in one sentence: generators have long struggled to get paid through the grid, which is why large industrial users build their own.

Dangote did not say where the $10 billion would go, whether into grid-scale plants, captive power for his own industries or projects elsewhere on the continent. Steel, the venture that would be sacrificed, has been on and off his agenda for years; he has previously said government pressure and monopoly complaints made him hesitate.

"If I'm Messi, I'm looking at the ball"

Asked about those complaints, Dangote said he would not be distracted. "Have you ever seen a footballer looking at the audience? If I'm Messi, for example, I'm kicking the ball, and I'm looking at the audience, do you think I won't miss the ball? I will miss the ball."

He denied receiving any exclusive rights. "There's nothing that the government gave us and say, 'this is only for Dangote,'" he said. Using a 100-metre race as an analogy, he asked whether the blame lay with the runner who won alone or with those who "just sat on the bench."

He said foreign investors are increasingly interested in Africa but that inconsistent policy and unreliable electricity remain the two obstacles that have "not gone away." The continent, he warned, cannot stay an importer. "One day we will not have money to import what we are consuming."

The power plan sits inside a wider $45 billion investment programme to 2030, with Dangote Cement expected to generate much of the cash. Dangote said the group's direction is now about "spreading the wealth," bringing more people into the business and strengthening governance. He also said he would "rather save my continent at the expense of even my life."