Founder of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has cautioned against using the cry of monopoly to discourage indigenous investment and industrial growth, insisting that no one is prevented from investing in Nigeria.

Speaking at the 2025 Inaugural Annual Downstream Petroleum Week, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) yesterday, Dangote, represented by the Group Chief Strategy Officer of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliyu Suleman, said focus should instead be on policies that encourage productivity, innovation, and fair competition.

“Too many people with the means to build industries chose instead to invest abroad. We decided to build here, to employ here, and to produce here. So let us not use the cry of monopoly to stop growth. No one is prevented from investing. We welcome others to build their own refineries, and we will offer support in whatever way we can,” Dangote said. ”

According to him, Nigeria holds a natural competitive advantage in refining due to its proximity to oil and gas supply, urging collaboration to enact laws that would make the sector prosper, adding that the Dangote Refinery can meet all of Nigeria’s demand for diesel and jet fuel and 90 per cent of its petrol needs.

He revealed that the refinery would soon be listed on the stock exchange to allow Nigerians to become shareholders in what he described as “a national asset.”

Dangote noted that Africa refines only about 40 per cent of its petroleum consumption despite producing significant crude, adding that refining remained capital-intensive and technologically complex. He said the group undertook the challenge of building a world-class refinery as part of its tradition of bold investments.

“At peak, we had over 60,000 people on site, 50,000 of them are Nigerians working around the clock,” he said.
Dangote argued that local refining not only enhances energy security but also generates jobs, strengthens engineering capacity, and stabilises exchange rates.

He decried what he described as an “import paradox,” where Nigeria still imports petroleum products while the Dangote Refinery exports. He called for the protection of domestic refineries from unfair competition, warning that indiscriminate import licences, especially for cheaper Russian products, could undermine local operations.

On his part, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, represented by his deputy, Benjamin Kalu, called for collaboration among stakeholders to reposition Nigeria’s downstream sector for growth, transparency, and innovation. He described the Dangote Refinery as a turning point in Nigeria’s quest for energy self-sufficiency and lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

The Chairman of the Committee, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, said the summit was aimed at repositioning the downstream sector as a driver of economic growth and industrial development. He said new legislative measures were underway to grant local refineries the first right of refusal on crude allocations and classify them as strategic national assets.