Aliko Dangote, owner of Africa’s largest refinery, has revealed plans for a 20,000MW power project, signalling a major expansion of his industrial footprint beyond oil refining, cement, and fertiliser.

He disclosed this in an interview with Makhtar Diop, managing director of the International Finance Corporation.

“We are now going into power… 20,000 megawatts,” he said, adding that Africa’s most pressing needs remain energy, fertilisers, and industrial inputs.

Although Dangote did not provide details on financing or timelines for the power project, a 20,000MW addition would significantly reshape Nigeria’s shaky power sector.

The country currently has an installed generation capacity of about 13,000MW, much of which is not consistently available due to infrastructure challenges.

“And the needs of Africa are petroleum products and fertilisers,” Dangote said. “Today, in about two and a half years, we will be the largest fertiliser company in the world. We are putting up 12 million tons of urea. We are opening up mines of potash and phosphate in Congo and Brazil. We are building the biggest deep-sea port with an 18-meter draft. We are doing LNG.”

He added that the expansion is being driven by stronger cash flows and increased financial flexibility.

“We are now actually free of assets, and we can actually raise more money. Our cash flow now is very, very strong,” he said.

The announcement follows the rapid expansion of the 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Petroleum Refinery, currently being scaled up toward 1.4 million barrels per day. (BusinessDay)