Aliko Dangote presenting his keynote address at NAPE Executive Session with theme “Strengthening Industry Confidence: Fiscal Stability. Governance Reforms and Investment Growth Across Nigeria’s Energy Value Chain.”
…Petrochemicals present enormous opportunities for foreign exchange earnings.
Speaking at an Executive Session during the 44th Annual International Conference and Exhibition of Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), President of Dangote Industries Group, Aliko Dangote, has called for urgent measures to address the estimated $7 billion debt owed by oil and gas operators to Nigerian banks, warning that the mounting financial exposure could undermine domestic financing for the industry and constrain efforts to increase crude oil production.
Dangote, who spoke as a keynote speaker at the Executive Session of the of NAPE conference in Lagos also advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and commercial banks to work together to restore confidence in the petroleum sector and unlock funding for operators.
He identified trust, transparency and good corporate governance as critical conditions for resolving the financing challenges and attracting fresh capital into the industry.
According to him, Nigerian banks should be able to provide more funding for indigenous oil and gas operators rather than leave them excessively dependent on foreign sources of capital.
He maintained that rebuilding confidence in the sector would be essential to encouraging financial institutions to reconsider their lending appetite, particularly as operators require substantial long-term funding to develop discovered fields, expand production and invest in new exploration activities.
Dangote’s intervention comes amid growing calls for increased investment in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum industry to boost reserves, raise production and strengthen the country’s competitiveness in the global energy market.
Beyond the immediate financing challenge, the industrialist made a strong case for Nigeria to accelerate investments in petrochemicals, declaring that a $20 billion investment in the chemical industry could generate annual revenue of at least $30 billion, with a substantial proportion translating into profit.
He argued that Nigeria’s economic transformation should not be anchored solely on crude oil production and refining but should extend to petrochemical manufacturing and other industrial activities capable of generating higher value from the country’s hydrocarbon resources.
According to the Dangote Group helmsman “If you invest $20 billion in the chemical industry, I can tell you, you can have a revenue of not less than $30 billion. And out of that $30 billion, most of it will be profit,” he said.
He stressed that petrochemicals presented enormous opportunities for foreign exchange earnings, industrial expansion, employment generation and economic diversification, urging the government to create an enabling environment for investors to commit capital to the sector.
He noted that the development of the entire energy value chain, from exploration and production to refining, petrochemicals and manufacturing, would generate more economic benefits than an excessive dependence on crude oil exports.
The Dangote Group President also identified inconsistency in government policies as a major obstacle to investment, insisting that investors require predictable regulations, political stability and confidence that policies announced by the government would be sustained.
Drawing from his experience in developing large-scale industrial projects in Nigeria, he recalled the challenges associated with land acquisition, infrastructure provision, the COVID-19 pandemic and foreign exchange volatility.
He disclosed that the exchange rate moved from about N136 to the dollar to approximately N1,800 during the period, but his group remained committed to its investment plans.
Dangote cautioned that international capital was increasingly mobile and would naturally gravitate towards countries offering more reliable investment conditions.
“Money does not only follow profit; it follows trust,” Dangote declared, stressing that the availability of attractive investment opportunities alone would not be sufficient to draw capital into Nigeria without confidence in the country’s institutions and policy direction.
He urged the government to move beyond announcing reforms and demonstrate consistency in their implementation, adding that investors needed assurance that projects would remain commercially viable throughout their lifespan.
On the country’s production ambition, Dangote questioned the adequacy of Nigeria’s target of producing three million barrels of crude oil per day, describing it as insufficiently ambitious.
He recalled that Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates had previously set their sights on achieving production levels of 4.2 million barrels per day by 2024, asking why the country should now settle for a three-million-barrel target by 2030.
He maintained that Nigeria must adopt more aggressive production targets and intensify exploration if it intends to compete effectively for international energy investments.
Dangote also called for greater investment in local technical capabilities and advanced exploration technologies to improve geological understanding, reduce operational risks and support the discovery and development of new reserves.
He noted that Nigeria could not sustain production growth without continually replacing depleted reserves through exploration and the development of discovered resources.
The industrialist further identified reliable electricity, modern transport infrastructure, affordable long-term financing, strong local supply chains and a technically skilled workforce as essential requirements for industrialisation.
He said expanding domestic processing and manufacturing would not only create jobs and increase exports but also reduce dependence on imported industrial products, strengthen the naira and improve the country’s economic resilience.
Providing an insight into his group’s expansion plans, Dangote disclosed that its refining capacity was expected to approach 2.1 million barrels per day within the next three to three-and-a-half years, alongside plans to produce approximately six million tonnes of petrochemicals.
He said such investments would enable Nigeria to retain more value from its natural resources while creating opportunities across the petroleum and manufacturing sectors.
Dangote also cited fresh investment commitments by international oil companies, including TotalEnergies, as encouraging developments, but urged the government to sustain the momentum by providing a more dependable operating environment.
He argued that the success of the petroleum industry should not be measured merely by the number of licences awarded or discoveries announced, but by the volume of capital deployed, projects completed, infrastructure delivered and value created for the Nigerian economy.
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