Dangote: Nigerians will be able to buy shares in our refinery in five months

By Abubakar Yunusa

Aliko Dangote, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Dangote Group, says within the next five months, Nigerians will be able to purchase shares directly from the Dangote refinery.
Dangote spoke to journalists during a tour of the facility by Bayo Ojulari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, alongside members of the company’s executive management.
“And the other issue is that they (NNPC) are holding 7.25 percent of the shares that we have here, which is more than the shares Elon Musk has in Tesla. And they are holding that on behalf of Nigerians,” he said.
“So individually, Nigerians too will have an opportunity in the next maybe maximum four to five months. There will actually be an opportunity to buy the shares.”
Dangote added that shareholders will have the option to receive their dividends in either naira or dollars, as the refinery also earns in dollars.
Commenting on Ojulari’s visit, the billionaire businessman said “today is really our best day ever” at the facility.
He said the NNPC, represented by Ojulari and its management team, was not just a guest, but a shareholder.
“I know NNPC invested in us when we were not really sure whether the refinery would be successful,” Dangote said.
“So that’s the kind of level of confidence. But right now, the relationship with the new set of people that we have at NNPC, I think the sky is the limit and we will cooperate and also make sure that we work together to make sure that we make Nigerians proud.”
Speaking on prospects of partnership with NNPC in the upstream sector, he said “we have a block 71, 72 but we’re going to look much deeper”.
“Most likely, depending on our own discussions with them, we will partner with them maybe in some of the upstream,” Dangote said.
“They too will partner with us here because here is not just a refinery, it’s an industrial hub.
“And that’s why we’re doing linear alkaline benzene, which is raw material for detergent.”
He added that refinery’s production for detergent raw material output will be enough to supply the entire African continent, with a 400,000 tons capacity — an amount currently unavailable on the continent.
“The only two are one in Algeria, 100,000 tons and Egypt, 50,000 but we’re going 400,000 tins and we’ll deliver all this in the next 30 months,” Dangote said.
On February 6, the Dangote refinery said it will soon commence the production of surfactants for detergent manufacturing in Nigeria.