Africa’s richest businessman, Aliko Dangote, says the Dangote Group is preparing a massive expansion into power generation with plans to produce as much as 20,000 megawatts of electricity.
Dangote made the disclosure during an interview with Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), on Wednesday, where he outlined the group’s widening industrial footprint across the continent.
“We are now going into power — 20,000 megawatts,” he said.
The proposed investment comes at a time when Nigeria’s current electricity generation hovers between 4,000 and 4,500 megawatts, despite an installed capacity exceeding 13,000 megawatts, underscoring the scale of the planned intervention.
Dangote said the power push forms part of a broader industrial strategy that also includes fertiliser production, liquefied natural gas (LNG), mining, and port infrastructure development.
He also reflected on the journey of his $20 billion refinery project, which has now begun fuel production with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, describing early scepticism surrounding the venture.
“At the time when I started this refinery… I have never ever seen crude oil in my life,” he said.
“People openly said this refinery will never happen.”
Despite the doubts, the refinery has become one of Africa’s largest industrial projects, now supplying refined petroleum products to the market.
Dangote said the experience has strengthened his conviction in large-scale investments on the continent, stressing that Africa’s development must be driven by African capital.
“How do we open up Africa? We will open Africa by demonstrating that we believe in Africa, by investing our money in Africa,” he said.
“Because if I don’t invest my own money, I can never go to any conference and convince people that Africa is a good place to come and invest. But right now, I have a voice, I have demonstrated that these things are possible.”
He further revealed that the group is aggressively scaling up fertiliser production capacity to about 12 million tonnes annually, while also expanding into mining operations for potash and phosphate in countries including Congo and Brazil.
“And the needs of Africa are petroleum products, fertilisers,” Dangote said.
“Today, in about two and a half years, we will be the largest fertiliser company in the world. We are putting up 12 million tons of urea. We are opening up mines of potash and phosphate in Congo and Brazil. We are building the biggest deep-sea port with an 18-meter draft. We are doing LNG.”
He added that the conglomerate’s financial position has strengthened significantly, giving it greater capacity to raise capital for future projects.
“We are now actually free of assets, and we can actually raise more money. Our cash flow now is very, very strong,” Dangote said.
According to him, the ongoing investments are aimed at closing Africa’s infrastructure gaps and accelerating industrial development across key sectors.
However, he noted that the success of such investments will depend on how well African economies address structural barriers to trade and investment.
