Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote's $2.5 billion Namibia project was nearly lost, president says

Namibia nearly lost Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote's $2.5 billion fuel storage and pipeline project to government delays, President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said, adding that she had to phone him personally to keep the investment in the country.

"We could have lost this project had there not been direct communication between you and me," Nandi-Ndaitwah told Dangote at the launch of the Dangote Namibia Tank Farm and Regional Pipeline Project outside Walvis Bay on Wednesday. "I had to call Mr Dangote and plead with him to hold on and make it work."

She apologized to Dangote for the delays and said his team had grown frustrated with the pace of government approvals. She first met him about the project on June 19, 2025, and had expected construction to start much sooner.

The project is worth about N$41.5 billion ($2.5 billion).

A lost shipyard

Nandi-Ndaitwah said she moved the project under the Office of the President after Namibia lost another large investment, a shipyard planned for the Erongo region, whose backers gave up after four years of delays.

"After four years, they had to withdraw. That project that was meant for Erongo, it pained me," she said. "Let us not place investors in a position where they have to beg government officials to facilitate their investments."

She put Kaire Mbuende, director-general of the National Planning Commission, in charge of coordinating the project and told him to report directly to her. The ministries of industries, mines and energy, of works and transport, and of finance, along with port operator Namport, were told to work closely with Dangote Industries.

"I am also giving you a blank cheque for development purposes," she told Dangote. "Today we have spoken, and now we must act."

She repeated that the project would remain a presidential project until it is finished.

What is being built

The depot will hold about 600 million liters of fuel, eight times the capacity of Namibia's national oil storage facility. The site has room for a pipeline of about 1,700 kilometers to carry fuel to Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, most of which now depend on road tankers. Dangote said construction would take 18 to 20 months.

At the launch, Dangote raised the amount his group plans to invest across Africa by 2030 to $60 billion, from $50 billion. George Elombi, president of the African Export-Import Bank, said the lender would have no difficulty putting $10 billion behind him.

The depot will store fuel from Dangote's refinery near Lagos, the world's largest single-train plant, which raised about $1.58 billion in an initial public offering that closed in October.

Dangote, 69, is Africa's richest person, with a net worth of $55.4 billion, according to Forbes. He built the Dangote Group from a Lagos trading business into the continent's largest industrial group, spanning cement, sugar, fertilizer and oil refining.

Figures were converted at N$16.6 to the dollar.