Dangote set to open refinery shares to Nigerians

Aliko Dangote announces Nigerians will soon be able to buy shares in Dangote Refinery, offering dividends in naira or dollars within five months

President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has announced plans to allow Nigerians to invest directly in the Dangote Refinery, broadening public ownership of the multi-billion-dollar project.

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Dangote disclosed this on Saturday while addressing journalists during a facility tour by Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) Group Chief Executive Officer Bayo Ojulari, alongside members of the company’s board and executive management team.

According to Dangote, Nigerians will be able to purchase shares in the refinery within the next four to five months.

“Individually, Nigerians too will have an opportunity… in the next maximum four or five months, they will actually be able to buy their shares,” he said.

He revealed that NNPC currently holds a 7.25 per cent minority stake in the refinery on behalf of Nigerians.

“They are holding 7.25 per cent of the shares that we have here… and they are holding that on behalf of Nigerians,” Dangote stated.

The industrialist added that prospective investors would have flexibility in dividend payments, with options to receive returns in naira or dollars, given the refinery’s foreign currency earnings.

Beyond the planned public investment window, Dangote said collaboration between the refinery and NNPC would deepen, potentially extending into upstream partnerships.

“Most likely, depending on our own discussions with them, we will partner with them, maybe in some of the upstream. They, too, will partner with us here because here is not a refinery. It’s an industrial hub,” he explained.

Dangote also disclosed that additional industrial projects within the complex, including the production of linear alkylbenzene for detergent manufacturing, are underway.

He said the facility aims to supply sufficient raw materials for the entire African continent within the next 30 months.

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The planned share offering signals a significant step toward expanding local participation in one of Africa’s largest energy infrastructure projects, while reinforcing strategic cooperation across Nigeria’s oil and gas value chain.

Quadri Olaitan