Dangote: Refinery Listing To Pay Dividend in USD

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:01][music] The head of the international finance corporation MTOP has sat down to a rare one-on-one interview with Africa's most famous industrialist Aliko Dangote. The Nigerianb born billionaire told the IFC CEO about his current mega projects in the oil and gas industry and what the Dangote business group ambitions are in logistics, electricity and other sectors across the continent. Here is an excerpt.

[00:00:32]>> We will open Africa by demonstrating that we believe in Africa. By investing our money in Africa because if I don't invest my own money, I can never go to any conference and convince people that Africa is a good place to come and invest.

[00:00:47]>> But right now I have a voice.

[00:00:50]>> Right now I have a mouth to say hey come and invest in Africa because I have demonstrated that look these things they are possible. I seen that you have been very deliberately supporting African countries. You told me for me this is very important in what I'm doing.

[00:01:06]>> You know I feel much more satisfied as a human being to now take my continent out of trouble. How do I take my continent out of trouble? Because we cannot continue every day we import food, we import whatever that we consume. Okay.

[00:01:22]So we decided that look the best thing that for us to do is to look at what are the needs of Africa and the needs of Africa is petroleum products fertilizers you know today we are going to be about 2 and a half years we'll be the largest fertilizer company in the world we are putting up 12 million tons of ura we are opening up a uh mines of potach and phosphate in Congo, Brazil. We are now going into power 20,000 megawatt. We are building the biggest deep sea port of uh 18 m draft. We are doing LNG.

[00:02:10]So why? Because we have now actually free assets and we can actually raise more money. Our cash flow now is very very strong. But what do you want to do with all this money? What we are trying to do is to now say okay fine how can African countries and Africans most especially benefit from this. Our own mission in uh uh Dangote is to look at critical needs of Africa and make sure that yes, we make those critical areas a reality. Because if you don't do that, it's just like now you look at it, how come we in Africa be exporting 80% of the cocoa of the world? Every single cocoa is being shipped in beans.

[00:02:56]Simple. You process it. How much will it cost? And if we keep waiting for foreign investors, foreign investors are very smart. They're not going to come. They will only come when they see our own commitment. So that's why for us now we have also changed because if you look at it ma most of our companies we own super majority.

[00:03:14]>> Mhm.

[00:03:15]>> 89% 90% 92% some 100%. And we're saying that no for us to grow up at scale we need to make sure that we have partnership. We should also collectively get Africans to buy shares like now the refinery we're going to list. When we list, we are going to ask Africans to do and we want to risk also their own capital. So when we are paying dividend, all our dividends will be in dollars and you can choose either you want naira or you want dollars or you want South African rand that you need will pay. It is going to be calculated and paid for in dollars.

[00:03:57]The point this point is very important for me Aliko because there is often you know some saying that all the private savings of a middle class is taken out of the continent and put in in apartment in Europe or the United States >> that's this is part of the story which is you cannot deny it's the truth but there is the part of the story that people don't talk about a lot >> is that when they have assets which are interesting and good quality assets in the continent Yes, >> people are investing and if you take the West African uh uh stock exchange >> companies like Sonatel and so forth whenever they issuing on the on the stock exchange people are overs subscribing.

[00:04:40]>> Yes.

[00:04:41]>> So like you I strongly believe that if you have quality assets on the continent where people can guarantee a return and with uh with a lot of stability they will be investing in our assets. Okay.

[00:04:56]What is your view about it?

[00:04:58]>> It is a great idea. Motor, let me give you an idea. You know, let's say now today we have a projection that our company based on the investments that we're going to make will end up having 100 billion dollars of revenue >> and a bidder will be minimum 30 to 35 billion >> mhm >> dollars. Let's say that uh you know the way that we always give a dividend you know at the company operational uh level we have been given very very high dividend sometimes we even give 90%.

[00:05:39]Yes, but the parent company which is Dangote Industries, we have never ever given dividend. I've never taken dividend one dime out of the company since when we started everything has been reinvested back into the business.

[00:05:53]That's why we're able to grow. So when you look at it, if we are now saying that at the end of the day, worst case scenario, we're going to give div of 20 billion dollars. Can you imagine if we have so let's say we will sell 25%.

[00:06:10]If you sell that 25% of this 20 25 billion you are actually going to inject billions of dollars into the hands of all these Africans. Do you know what that can do? It's a life-changing event and that is why really we are now working with Central Bank of Nigeria. We're working with the stock exchange of Nigeria. We are working with the securities and exchange commission and we are now trying to now make all these things happen where we you know Kenya will put up like a vehicle and all investment will be done there and now they will take the money into our company when they want to sell down you can always sell down because there's a certificate that you have you can take your capital out at any time that you want and majority of them too will help you. This is something that we would really love to work with you.

[00:07:03]>> I mean you have more experience than us.

[00:07:05]So I'm sure this one IFC will definitely help to lead in this. You see because mak if we open up something like this I am telling you will end up paying maybe 20 25 billion of dividend to Africans.

[00:07:24]That is a lot of money.

[00:07:25]>> It's a lot of money.

[00:07:25]>> It's a lot of money. So that is what you know. So what even for my own legacy really honestly this one is a self-satisfying event for me.

[00:07:35]>> Another thing that you you you you have you have been doing and you came here and gives a keynote address on the water >> water. Yes.

[00:07:43]>> Our project in water now what we are doing is actually like in agriculture. I keep saying that you know agriculture is not a poor man's business anymore. That is what can actually take our people out of poverty. So we became very very interested in this you know and one time when you set up that financing for us IFC led >> um put up uh you know in 2005 a finance our first outing 478 million >> I'm impressed with your memory >> yes yes that's right >> it was while while ago >> yes it was while ago and you took also risk >> on us was a 7year loan >> and were able to pay it in 18 months Okay. So when you look at that when we finish to keep telling you how important water you know is even to our own operation. Normally in northern Nigeria wherever you actually drill you get water. But that area where we have the cement plant there was no water at all.

[00:08:46]We were all hitting dry >> ball holes. Yes. Dried all over. And you cannot produce cement without water.

[00:08:54]I never knew because the cooling of the equipments all this one you know it has to use water. So we had to go now and create a dam where luckily we are near by one river we make it as a reservoir to reserve what we can have for 2 years just in case that there is a drought. So with that we are able to you know secure. Today my refinery cannot operate and produce good quality petroleum products without good treated water. In the refinery alone we have 440 million liters of treated water storage. We use a lot of water even though we recycle it. So in the same vein when you look at all the other businesses that are doing rice processing, rice meals, there must be water. If the quality of that water is not there, no production. The same thing with fertilizer. You said that there are 400 mini dams in Nigeria roughly. You you told you told us what will your plan for IC and you and the World Bank group as as as a whole to work with you on these 400 dams. What what do you envisage as big investment?

[00:10:16]>> What we need to do is actually because some of them they just need a bit of diling. Some of them they need some repairs of the equipments because they have not been put to use all of them majority of them. So when we do this what we are doing all these people that are around the dams will actually totally transform their lives. Once the dams are working people will go now they will farm there is water uh they can do irrigation once the irrigation is there people can actually have a livelihood throughout the year. So this one will empower people. It will take out poverty. It will create prosperity. And all most of all these conflicts were having especially in the Sahel, they'll go away. Because why do you think that people want to go now and risk their lives and be notorious in killing people? It's because they have no jobs.

[00:11:10][music]