The President and Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has said the crude oil refinery being built by Dangote Oil Refining Company Limited will be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Dangote disclosed this on Monday while speaking with journalists after beating the closing gong at the NSE in Lagos in commemoration of his 60th birthday.
He said when completed in 2019, the refinery would enhance local refining of the nation’s crude oil, and save the country a lot of money currently being spent on the shipment of crude oil and petroleum products.
“Refining business is not a business that you make 50 per cent margin from; the margin is low but what you depend on is the volume of business that you have there, and that is the reason why we are building a 650,000-barrels-per-day refinery. It is a very large one,” he said.
Talking about distribution of products from the refinery, Dangote noted that there would be consistency in supply to filling stations across the country with increased job creation.
“When you travel around, you see that, especially in the northern part, more than 50 per cent of the filling stations are not operational,” he said.
With four of his companies already listed on the NSE, Dangote said, “We will list every single company that we create between now and the end of my life. But the companies will continue obviously.
“We pray that very soon, we will start having our AGMs in stadiums and not in hotels. And that means that we will create something like about two to three million shareholders and I am sure everybody will be happy.”
He added, “What we are building today is more than 100 times bigger than where we are. That is the trajectory that we are seeing in the next 10 years.
“We will take charge of diversifying the economy of Nigeria, most especially working with the government as partners to make sure that we diversify the economy and to spread prosperity to Nigerians. I think I have to continue now to dedicate the rest of my life to making sure that the prosperity is spread all over.”
According to Dangote, the Nigerian stock market is expected to be as big as its South African counterpart in the next five years.
He said the new initiatives of Dangote Group in the agricultural sector would have a major impact on the economy.
According to him, the group’s plan for the next three years “is to have 1.2 million tonnes of sugar, which we are importing now; taking out foreign exchange is not going to happen any more in the next three and half years.”
According to him, the group has the capacity to produce over one million tonnes of rice, which will be ready within one year.
“We are doing a lot with the farmers. What we are doing today with farmers is to enrich them by giving them new seeds; they will be getting an average of seven to eight tonnes per hectare,” he added.
In his welcome remarks, the Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, described Dangote as a corporate titan, an African pride, an important stakeholder in the Nigerian capital market, and a strong promoter of local content.
He said, “We are here for a historic celebration of Alhaji Aliko Dangote. As you all know, Alhaji Dangote has listed four of his companies here with a total market capitalisation of N2.91tn as of today.
“But that is not why we celebrate him; we celebrate him because of the person that he is, the values that he has, his humility, his simplicity and the way he has positively impacted millions of Nigerians.”
