Dangote Defends Empire: Success Built on First-Mover Advantage, Not Monopoly

RYNI News | Blessing Isiuwa
23 August 2025

Nigeria’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has fired back at critics who accuse him of monopolising critical sectors of the economy, insisting that his rise is anchored not on undue privilege but on vision, grit, and strategic timing.

The billionaire industrialist, whose $20 billion refinery has transformed Nigeria into a net exporter of petroleum products for the first time in three decades, dismissed claims that his business practices are designed to suffocate competition. Instead, he argued, his achievements are rooted in first-mover advantage, an entrepreneurial edge he believes is crucial for Africa’s industrial future.

“If you are going to call first movers monopolists, then you will never build a manufacturing base, or even a country,” Dangote said, countering reports, including a recent Bloomberg feature, that portray his dominance as the product of political connections and import restrictions.

For years, detractors have argued that Dangote Industries flourishes in sectors where imports are restricted—cement, sugar, and now oil. A leaked U.S. diplomatic cable from 2007 went further, branding Dangote a “predator” who leveraged Nigeria’s political economy to tilt the field in his favour. Dangote, however, insists the narrative is misleading. “Those items were not banned when we invested,” he said, maintaining that he seized opportunities where others hesitated.

The businessman admitted that building the world’s largest single-train refinery was fraught with hardship. With unreliable public services, his team had to provide their own infrastructure from scratch—roads, power, water, and even port facilities. “If I knew what I was going to go through, I wouldn’t have tried it,” Dangote confessed.

Yet the gamble appears to be paying off. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth has surged by $1 billion in just three months, bringing it to $28 billion, buoyed by the refinery’s ramp-up. The facility, his executives say, is already “changing the face of business” in Nigeria, exporting refined products rather than raw crude.

Still, controversy lingers. In September 2024, Dangote Industries filed a court injunction seeking to halt petroleum imports, arguing that the refinery could meet national demand. Regulators pushed back, warning such a move could entrench a monopoly. The case was later withdrawn, with Dangote’s deputy, Devakumar Edwin, stressing that dialogue with the government had improved following President Bola Tinubu’s visit to the facility.

Edwin defended the company’s stance, drawing comparisons with the United States and China. “These countries protect their industries. All we are saying is, do the same. Otherwise, we will continue exporting raw materials and creating jobs abroad, while importing finished products that add to someone else’s GDP.”

For Dangote, who began in the 1970s with a $3,000 loan from his uncle, trading in grains before moving into cement and other ventures, the story is one of relentless reinvention. From his first Mercedes bought for ₦5,100 to the behemoth refinery now standing as a symbol of Nigeria’s industrial aspirations, he presents himself less as a monopolist and more as a pioneer.

“We are not part of corruption,” he declared. “We are part of the problem-solving.”

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