LAGOS: Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that the group plans to take its fertiliser business public in 2028, while joking about the growing number of Nigerians who now consider themselves shareholders of his refinery business.
Dangote disclosed the timeline during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum, where he discussed the ownership structure of his businesses and the group’s plans to bring more investors into some of its operations.
His comments came as the ongoing initial public offering of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery continues to generate significant interest among Nigerian retail investors.
During the interview, Dangote spoke about the possibility of having a much larger shareholder base across his businesses.
He said the group had traditionally operated without external partners but was now opening some of its businesses to a wider pool of investors.
“We don’t have partners. But that’s why we are now looking for all these massive number of people to now become our partners,” Dangote said.
He then referred humorously to the reaction of Nigerians who recently purchased shares in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
“You must have seen that they’ve been calling me now for a board meeting,” he said.
The comment reflects the wave of humour that has emerged on social media since the refinery’s share offer began attracting retail investors.
The refinery’s IPO has triggered a strong social media reaction, particularly among Nigerians who purchased the minimum number of shares required to participate in the offer.
Some investors have jokingly described themselves as co-owners, directors and executives of the massive refinery.
Social media users have shared mock certificates carrying their photographs and humorous titles, while others have posted videos pretending to monitor refinery operations or summon meetings with Dangote.
The jokes have turned the share offer into more than a conventional investment story online, with the phrase “board meeting” becoming one of the recurring themes.
Behind the humour, however, the IPO represents a significant development in the ownership structure of one of Nigeria’s most prominent industrial assets.
Beyond the refinery share offer, Dangote confirmed that another major Dangote Group business is also being prepared for a public listing.
Asked whether the group’s fertiliser business would eventually be listed, Dangote responded in the affirmative.
He said the business would be taken to the capital market and described it as potentially becoming the largest fertiliser company in the world.
When asked about the expected timeline, Dangote gave 2028 as the target year.
The announcement provides a specific public timeline for the proposed IPO of Dangote’s fertiliser operations.
Dangote Fertiliser currently operates a major fertiliser plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, built at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion.
The facility has an annual production capacity of approximately three million tonnes of urea.
The group has also outlined plans to substantially increase its fertiliser production capacity by 2028.
The expansion programme includes further development of its Nigerian operations as well as a proposed fertiliser plant in Ethiopia.
If the planned expansion is achieved, Dangote has previously said the fertiliser business could become one of the world’s largest urea producers.
The proposed fertiliser listing would potentially give Nigerian and international investors another opportunity to own a stake in a major Dangote Group business.
It would also follow the group’s wider move towards bringing some of its major assets to the public market.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO has already opened a new channel for retail investors to participate in the ownership of the refinery.
A future fertiliser IPO could similarly broaden investor participation in one of Africa’s largest fertiliser production operations.
Dangote’s comments come at a time when the refinery’s IPO is attracting growing attention from Nigerian investors.
The offer has particularly generated interest among individual investors, many of whom have used social media to document their participation.
The refinery, which has become one of Nigeria’s most significant industrial projects, is expected to remain a major focus of investor attention as the public offer progresses.
For Dangote, the growing number of retail shareholders represents a significant change from the group’s historically concentrated ownership structure.
If the proposed listing proceeds as announced, the 2028 fertiliser IPO could become another major event in Nigeria’s capital market.
It could give investors an opportunity to participate directly in the growth of Dangote’s fertiliser business while potentially increasing transparency around the company’s financial performance and expansion plans as a publicly listed entity.
However, the eventual structure, valuation, exchange listing, share offer size and other details of the proposed IPO have not yet been disclosed.
For now, Dangote’s confirmation of 2028 represents the latest publicly stated timeline for taking the fertiliser business to the market.
The development also reinforces the broader transformation taking place within the Dangote Group as some of its major businesses increasingly move towards wider public ownership.
