President and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has called on wealthy Nigerians and Africans to prioritise investing in their home countries, warning that real development cannot happen in the face of capital flight.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with select journalists, Dangote decried the trend among Africa’s elite of exporting wealth and stashing funds abroad, saying this practice undermines long-term economic growth on the continent.
“No nation develops without significant investments,” he said. “I appeal to all wealthy Nigerians to look inward and invest here, in Nigeria, for the future of our unborn children. There is hardly any country without corruption, but the difference is that in those other countries, the stolen funds are still reinvested locally to grow the economy. Here, we take the money and keep it in foreign banks, which adds no value to our own economy.”
Dangote argued that what Africa needs is not just aid or rhetoric, but bold, transformative investments that create jobs and drive inclusive growth.
He pointed to his $20 billion oil refinery project in Lagos as an example of what is possible when local capital is deployed toward national development. Despite widespread scepticism and numerous challenges, he said he was determined to see Nigeria achieve self-sufficiency in refined petroleum products and help spur similar initiatives across the continent.
“The refinery was built to ensure Nigeria’s energy independence and reduce the continent’s dependence on imported fuel,” Dangote explained. “Apart from Algeria and Libya, most African countries import refined petroleum products, even though we have abundant crude oil reserves.”
He lamented that Africa, due to this dependence, had become a dumping ground for substandard petroleum products, a situation he described as unacceptable given the continent’s collective proven oil reserves of over 125 billion barrels—mainly from Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Egypt, and Libya.
Recounting the scale of the refinery project, Dangote admitted that many doubted the group’s ability to deliver.
“People think building a refinery is like building a house. But if I had known the magnitude of challenges we were going to face, I probably wouldn’t have started. We were lucky we didn’t fully understand what we were walking into. But we believed that nothing is impossible,” he said.
He added that despite facing delays and stiff opposition, his group remained focused on the goal: to build a facility that would not only meet Nigeria’s fuel demand but also serve as a model for other African nations.
Dangote concluded by reiterating his call for homegrown investment, saying it is the only path to long-term prosperity for Nigeria and the continent.
“Let us invest in our future, in our people, and in our land. That is how great nations are built.”
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