Victor EzejaChairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has called on Africans to come together and develop the continent, stressing that they can’t rely on foreign investors to do that.
He said all it would take is courage, tenacity and being patriotic about the need to develop the continent.
Dangote made the call in an interview conducted by CNN’s Eleni Giokos at his 650,000 bpd Refinery and Petrochemical company in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos State.
In a video clip of the interview, Dangote spoke about his journey towards building the refinery, revealing that if he knew beforehand the enormity of challenges he would go through, he wouldn’t have ventured into it but is today happy that the construction has been completed.
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He said he gained a lot of experience from building the $19 billion refinery.
Highlighting the challenges, the Africa’s richest person said he had to dredge a lot of sand, over 65 million tonnes, before work could start on the site, adding that many people did not believe that the project would come to fruition. He also noted that he and his team carried out the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) for the project on their own because of the initial challenges encountered.
Speaking further on the challenges of building a refinery facility, Dangote said no African government has built a single one in the last 35 years because of a number of factors.
According to him, chiefly among them is that people who benefit from massive fuel imports into the continent often discourage African governments from building refineries.
Another issue he cited was lack of access to funds because many of the countries don’t have strong banks and international financial institutions won’t fund such a project.
“I’ve learned that there are other countries in Africa, all the African countries that have been trying to build refineries, but they have not been able to. There has not been a refinery in the last 35 years.
“There are so many issues. I can’t count them, but there are so many. It’s not only money, political will, but also people who are benefiting from this whole stuff of importing petroleum products into Africa are actually discouraging those governments from building a refinery. And they won’t get the loans anyway, because they don’t have very strong banks. The international banks will not support anything like this.
“We’re talking about industrialising the continent, creating a more connected Africa.”
On Africa’s development, he said: “We Africans are the only people that can develop Africa. If we’re waiting for foreigners or foreign investors to come and develop Africa, it will never happen.”
Dangote said his company would keep exploring further opportunities in the energy sector, especially in petrochemicals, upstream, and more.
The company reportedly made history recently by exporting its first jet fuel cargo to Europe.
A report from S&P Global Commodity Insights on Friday said British Petroleum (BP) was transporting 45,000 metric tons of jet fuel from Dangote refinery to Rotterdam aboard the Doric Breeze.
The report also said the Doric Breeze ship loaded the product at Lekki on 27 May for supply to Europe.
This move is considered a significant one because it would not only attract foreign exchange earnings to Nigeria but also has potential to change the trade flows in West Africa.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
1) Mr. Dangote has done his part for his country and this continent. He will eternally deserve our gratitude irrespective of whatever mistakes may be accounted to him. The rest is up to us, the Nigerian government, and the AU to ensure that his Afrocentric vision succeeds. 2) As he rightly observes, foreigners will not develop Africa for Africans, it is up to us, absolutely. Indeed, I’m not surprised they seek to undermine him(as they are doing to Peace Airline). Again, it is up to us to protect our own. 3) Steve Biko reportedly said directly “Black man, you are on your own’ in this dog-eat-dog world. 4) The clear and urgent necessity now is a determined collective effort of Africans to seize control of affairs out of the hands of the self-seekers in politics and business, and put in the hands of public- interest minded persons.