Aliko Dangote is forging ahead with a proposal to build a seaport in Ogun State to facilitate exports, including liquefied natural gas.
The move is expected to accelerate an expansion of Mr Dangote’s conglomerate, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing an interview with Africa’s richest man.
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An application to authorities last month, according to the outlet, sought “to build the biggest, deepest port in Nigeria” in Olokola.
The free trade zone was initially considered as the host of Mr Dangote’s mega oil refinery and petrochemical plant, now situated on the outskirts of Lagos, before an impasse with the government thwarted the plan.
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The port is conceived to connect the Dangote group’s logistics and export operations in Lagos, including Lekki Deep Sea Port, through which it currently ships petroleum products and fertilisers overseas.
“It’s not that we want to do everything by ourselves, but I think doing this will encourage other entrepreneurs to come into it,” Bloomberg quoted Mr Dangote as saying.
Betting on LNG exports requires the laying of pipelines from the Niger Delta, all the way to Lagos, an ambitious pursuit intended to overtake Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) as Africa’s biggest LNG exporter.
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“We want to do a major project to bring more gas than what NLNG is doing today,” said Devakumar Edwin, a vice president of the group.
“We know where there is a lot of gas, so run a pipeline all through and then bring it to the shore,” he added.
The group exports fertiliser to the US, Brazil, Mexico, India, and recently disclosed an aspiration to set up a fertiliser plant in Ethiopia, which will help Africa’s second most populous nation develop production capacity.
READ ALSO: I doubt if Nigeria’s refineries would ever function – Dangote
The ambition is, nevertheless, far bigger than that, given plans to topple Qatar as the foremost manufacturer of urea in the next 40 months and to also make Africa self-sufficient in fertiliser within the same time frame.
The 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery, the continent’s largest, began operations in 2024 after years of construction delays.
Construction of storage tanks to hold a minimum of 1.6 million litres of petrol and diesel in Namibia is in the works.
Mr Dangote hopes to list the petrochemical business on the local stock exchange in Lagos this year and the refinery on the bourse next year.
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