Dangote shoots back to Africa’s richest man, as refinery begins work

Nigerian billionaire business mogul, Aliko Dangote, has stormed back to the top as Africa’s richest person after recently losing the top spot to South African billionaire, Johan Rupert. This comes after his long-awaited Nigerian oil refinery is up and running.

Many believed his initial drop as the richest man was due to the construction of the refinery and the dwindling value of the Nigerian currency, the naira.

The refinery was the most ambitious project in Dangote’s 46-year career, as he made his first billion in cement. It took 11 years and $20 billion to build, which is more than twice as long and more than twice as much as originally estimated.

Bloomberg’s latest billionaires index returns Dangote as the richest man in Africa, and his refinery is one of the most complex, capable of processing most global crude types.

According to analysts, the refinery has the potential to transform Nigeria’s economy by making the country self-reliant on fuel; and it more than doubled his net worth to $27.8 billion.

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The refinery, spanning nearly 4,000 football fields, started construction in 2016 at the Lekki Free Zone outside of Lagos, Nigeria, and was officially opened in May 2023. Dangote’s company says the plant will have the capability to produce 650,000 barrels per day once fully operational.

“Nobody thought we were going to appear in this industry. So with that, we know there are challenges, and that’s the truth; I have to be very open with you, but NNPC [Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation] has been very helpful. They do their bit, but some of the IOCs [international oil companies] are struggling to give us crude because everybody’s used to exporting, and nobody wants to stop exporting, which does not make sense,” Dangote said concerning the delay in the distribution of PMS to the Nigerian markets.

According to the billionaire businessman, the plant will meet 100 per cent of the Nigerian consumption need of all refined products (gasoline, 53 million litres per day; diesel, 34 million litres per day; kerosene, 10 million litres per day; and aviation jet, two million litres per day) and has a surplus of each of the products for export. He disclosed that 80 per cent of the production could also be discharged through trucks across the country.

The Nigerian billionaire is currently ranked 65th on the global wealth list and is now the richest person in Africa.