Dangote’s Maritime Ambition: Africa’s Richest Man Charts Course for Nigeria’s Deepest Port

RYNI Media: By Omotayo Stephen .O
16 July 2025

In a bold stride towards rewriting the narrative of Africa’s maritime infrastructure, billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote is setting sail on a new frontier — the construction of Nigeria’s largest and deepest seaport along the coastal stretch of Olokola in Ogun State.

This visionary project, recently filed with Nigerian authorities, aims to transform Olokola into a global export hub, seamlessly linking Dangote’s sprawling industrial empire with international markets. The strategic move will not only diversify Nigeria’s economic arteries beyond crude oil but also solidify the nation’s position on the global logistics and liquefied natural gas (LNG) map.

“This is not just about the Dangote Group. It’s about igniting a wave of private sector-led industrialisation across Africa,” Dangote said in a recent interview with Bloomberg. “When others see this, they will believe it can be done.”

The proposed port—destined to surpass the depths and scale of the Lekki Deep Sea Port—signals Dangote’s intention to centralise and streamline exports of petroleum products, fertilisers, and LNG through a custom-built infrastructure ecosystem. It marks a strategic pivot back to Olokola, once earmarked for Dangote’s oil refinery before negotiations with the government fell through, pushing the refinery to Lagos’ Lekki Peninsula.

But this new vision dwarfs past plans.

At the heart of the initiative is an audacious pipeline network stretching from the gas-rich swamps of the Niger Delta to the southwestern coastline, designed to feed LNG into export channels that could rival Nigeria LNG Limited and disrupt the continent’s energy hierarchy.

“We know where the gas is. We will bring it to the coast,” said Devakumar Edwin, vice president of the Dangote Group. “We are aiming to eclipse NLNG’s output — and redefine Africa’s role in the global gas economy.”

The project unfolds amid ongoing international expansion. Dangote is currently exporting fertilisers to countries as far afield as the United States, Brazil, and India, with plans to erect a fertiliser plant in Ethiopia. His ambition? To dethrone Qatar as the world’s top urea producer within the next 40 months, while achieving fertiliser self-sufficiency across Africa.

Meanwhile, the company’s $20 billion, 650,000 bpd refinery—the largest in Africa—has commenced operations and is already reshaping fuel distribution dynamics across the continent. Plans are also underway to construct massive fuel storage facilities in Namibia and to list the petrochemical arm on the Nigerian Stock Exchange by year’s end.

In Dangote’s world, the tides are shifting—and with them, so might the future of Africa’s industrial destiny.

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