President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has declared that Nigeria is on track to become a global powerhouse in fertiliser and petrochemicals, with his company targeting the position of world’s largest exporter of urea fertiliser by 2026.
Dangote made the disclosure on Monday while briefing journalists at the Dangote Refinery complex in Lagos, during an event marking the one-year anniversary of the refinery’s gasoline rollout.
Speaking with optimism, the billionaire industrialist said the group was scaling operations to position Nigeria at the centre of the global urea market. “We’re actually targeting to be the largest exporter of urea fertiliser in the world. And that’s a big celebration for Nigeria,” Dangote said.
According to him, fertiliser exports will not only boost Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings but also strengthen food security across Africa, where fertiliser demand continues to outstrip local production.
Beyond fertiliser, Dangote highlighted the group’s progress in petrochemicals, particularly polypropylene, a key raw material for packaging, textiles, and automotive components. “Nigeria will be the largest exporter of Polypropylene in Africa. It will be the largest supplier of Polypropylene. And we are not deterred by all this noise coming through,” he declared.
Industry experts say the move could reposition Nigeria as a hub for petrochemical exports, reducing Africa’s reliance on imports from Asia and Europe. The refinery anniversary event also featured the rollout of 1,000 Compressed Natural Gas trucks to transport petroleum products nationwide.
Dangote revealed that the fleet is part of a larger plan to deploy 4,000 CNG trucks by year-end, aimed at easing logistics bottlenecks, reducing transport costs, and expanding fuel access across the country. He disclosed that the project cost over N2tn, with each CNG truck priced between N170m and N190m.
Dangote emphasised that the trucking initiative is designed not only to improve fuel distribution but also to generate employment on a large scale.
“We are saying that there will be lots of jobs. Are our own trucks to be driven by robots? They are not robotic trucks. By the time you involve a workshop manager, mechanical, electric truck, people who look after cars, people who look at the logistic movement of the truck, dispatch, every truck will have about six people,” he said.
According to him, the planned 4,000 trucks will directly and indirectly create at least 24,000 jobs. He added that the salaries for truck drivers under the initiative would be three to four times higher than the national minimum wage, reflecting the company’s commitment to improving living standards.
In another forward-looking move, Dangote announced that the group would deploy electric vehicles (EVs) for product transportation starting January 2026. “Our next phase is that, from February next year, we are looking at doing electric vehicles,” he said, underscoring the group’s commitment to sustainability and alignment with global energy transition trends.
