Aliko Dangote, the founder of the Dangote Group and Africa’s richest man, has announced the repayment of $2.4 billion of the $5.5 billion loan taken for his $19 billion refinery project in Lagos. Speaking at the Afreximbank Annual Meetings in Nassau, The Bahamas, Dangote shared that his 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery will serve as Nigeria\u2019s strategic reserve, as reported by This Day Newspaper.<\/p>\n
The project, which faced significant delays due to land acquisition and sand-filling issues, borrowed over $5.5 billion based on Dangote Group\u2019s balance sheet. Despite these challenges, Dangote revealed that substantial progress has been made, with $2.4 billion already repaid and only $2.7 billion remaining. He expressed gratitude towards Afreximbank and Access Bank for their unwavering support, acknowledging that many had doubted the project\u2019s feasibility.<\/p>\n
Dangote highlighted the resistance faced from powerful oil cartels, which he claimed made numerous attempts to undermine the refinery project. He compared the intensity of this opposition to that of a mafia, stating, \u201cWell, I knew that there would be a fight. But I didn\u2019t know that the mafia in oil, they are stronger than the mafia in drugs. I can tell you that. Yes, it\u2019s a fact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite these formidable obstacles, Dangote, who describes himself as a lifelong fighter, remained resolute. He recounted how international banks attempted to push the project into default during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to halt its progress. However, with the steadfast support of banks like Afreximbank, these efforts were thwarted.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Dangote revealed his plans to venture into the steel industry, with a vision of using exclusively Nigerian-produced steel. This initiative aims to ensure self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on imports, furthering Nigeria’s industrial development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Aliko Dangote, the founder of the Dangote Group and Africa’s richest man, has announced the repayment of $2.4 billion of the $5.5 billion loan taken for his $19 billion refinery project in Lagos. Speaking at the Afreximbank Annual Meetings in Nassau, The Bahamas, Dangote shared that his 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery will serve as Nigeria\u2019s strategic reserve, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":34718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34714"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34722,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34714\/revisions\/34722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}