Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has urged East African governments to support the construction of a large-scale regional refinery as part of efforts to reduce fuel imports and strengthen industrial self-sufficiency across the continent. Speaking at a summit in Nairobi, Dangote said his group is ready to build a facility similar to Nigeria’s 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery within four to five years, provided there is strong government backing and policy stability.
The proposed project would serve multiple countries including Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, using shared crude supply and pipeline infrastructure to cut costs and improve efficiency. Dangote stressed that Africa must stop exporting raw materials and importing finished goods, warning that this model costs the continent jobs and deepens poverty. He called for stable policies and easier cross-border trade to attract major investments in industrial infrastructure.
Regional leaders, including Kenya’s President William Ruto and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, backed the idea during the summit, saying local refining would boost job creation, increase value addition, and reduce the region’s vulnerability to global supply shocks. East Africa currently relies heavily on imported refined petroleum products, with limited refining capacity concentrated in Kenya’s ageing Mombasa refinery. A new large-scale facility would transform the region’s energy landscape, potentially lowering fuel prices and creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
From a continental trade perspective, the initiative aligns with broader plans under the African Continental Free Trade Area to expand industrial capacity and reduce reliance on imports from outside the continent. However, the project faces significant hurdles, including the need for coordinated regulatory frameworks across multiple countries, financing arrangements, and the availability of crude feedstock. Dangote’s track record with his Nigerian refinery, which recently reached full capacity after years of delays, may reassure investors, but the East African project would need similar levels of political will and financial commitment. The coming months will determine whether the proposal moves from ambition to feasibility studies.
