Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is attracting investment interest from leading South African pension and investment institutions following a high-level visit to the facility in Lagos.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday, delegates from the Government Employees Pension Fund, Public Investment Corporation and Alterra Capital Partners toured the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals and Dangote Fertiliser Limited located in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.
The statement noted that the Government Employees Pension Fund is Africa’s largest defined-benefit pension fund, serving more than 1.8 million public sector workers in South Africa, while the Public Investment Corporation remains the continent’s largest asset manager.
Chairperson of the Government Employees Pension Fund, Frans Baleni, described the refinery as proof that Africa can successfully execute world-class industrial projects.
“If it can be done anywhere else in the world, it can be done in Africa. This project has shown that the continent is capable of achieving world-class industrialisation at scale,” Baleni said.
He added that the significance of the refinery extends beyond Nigeria and could reshape global perceptions of Africa’s industrial capacity.
“What has been built here is reshaping how the world should think about African industrial capability, and it should reshape how Africa thinks about itself,” he stated.
The Chief Executive Officer of Public Investment Corporation, Patrick Dlamini, described the refinery as one of Africa’s most transformative industrial projects.
Quoting former South African President Nelson Mandela, Dlamini said, “It always looks impossible until it’s done. This project is redefining the story of Africa and the possibilities of Africa.”
He disclosed that PIC, which manages about $230bn in assets mainly on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund, is seeking long-term investment partnerships focused on infrastructure, industrialisation and economic transformation across Africa.
“There is real strategic alignment between Dangote’s industrial agenda and how we are positioning our portfolio, and we look forward to exploring meaningful avenues for collaboration,” Dlamini added.
President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said the planned listing of the refinery on the Nigerian Exchange is intended to allow Africans participate directly in the continent’s industrial growth.
“We are opening the doors for investors to participate directly in Africa’s industrial future and the prosperity it will create,” Dangote said.
He stressed that Africa’s economic growth must be driven by large-scale industrial projects capable of boosting domestic production, creating jobs and reducing dependence on imports.
Dangote also noted that demand for products including polypropylene, aviation fuel and refined petroleum products has exceeded earlier projections, reinforcing the refinery’s commercial viability and future expansion prospects.
“We thought about Nigeria first and then exports, but even with our current production, we are practically living hand to mouth because the market demand is extremely high,” he said.
