Billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote has applied to begin work on a seaport near his fertiliser and oil refinery plants.
The proposed Atlantic seaport in Olokola, Ogun State, lies about 100 kilometres (62 miles) by road from the billionaire’s fertiliser plant and petrochemicals refinery in Lagos. Dangote currently exports urea and fertiliser through an on-site jetty he built, which also receives heavy equipment for the refinery.
A Bloomberg News report on Monday said that the proposed Atlantic will link its logistics and export operations and rival facilities in Lagos, to make it easier to export goods, including liquefied natural gas.
Dangote plans to export liquefied gas from Lagos, a project that will involve constructing pipelines from Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, the report quoted the Vice President of the group, Devakumar Edwin.
The report said the project, when completed, will support the rapid growth of his industrial empire.
Dangote’s plan “to build the biggest, deepest port in Nigeria” took wings after he sent in the paperwork for permission in late June, he said in an interview in Lagos, quoted by Bloomberg.
Once completed, the port will link the conglomerate’s logistics and export operations and rival facilities in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, including the Chinese-funded Lekki Deep Sea Port opened in 2023.
Dangote, valued at $27.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, also owns cement manufacturing and sugar plants in Africa.
“It’s not that we want to do everything by ourselves, but I think doing this will encourage other entrepreneurs to come into it,” he said.
The port marks the billionaire’s return to the same site where he had previously abandoned plans to build his giant refinery and fertiliser complex after wrangling with local authorities. The tensions have since been mended under a new administration.
Dangote also plans to export liquefied gas from Lagos, a project that will involve constructing pipelines from Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, Edwin said in another interview.
“We want to do a major project to bring more gas than what NLNG is doing today,” he said, referring to Nigeria LNG Ltd., a joint venture between the government, Shell Plc, Eni SpA and TotalEnergies SE, which is currently the continent’s largest exporter of LNG.
“We know where there is a lot of gas, so run a pipeline all through and then bring it to the shore,” he added.
Dangote already sources natural gas from the Niger Delta to supply his fertiliser plant, where it is used as feedstock to produce hydrogen for ammonia, a key component in the production of the crop nutrient.
The billionaire also plans to start distributing fuel to retailers in Nigeria from August, using a fleet of 4,000 gas-powered trucks, a move that has drawn criticism from some groups accusing him of attempting to monopolise the oil sector, which he has denied.
