Dangote at 64: Salute to Audacious Pan-African Industrialist

Chidiebere Nwobodo

When curtains fell on 9th April of 1957; the day that heralded 10th April of 1957; Aliko Dangote’s birthday, not even the commercial city of Kano got wind of what the next day would arrive with it. The weather was normal as usual, people went about their businesses; farming, religious activities, etcetera, without a glimpse of what the next day would deliver. At the eve of 10th April, 1957, I can guess that not even Mariya Sanusi Dantata knew the enormousness of the seed of greatness in her womb. The D-day came, Aliko Dangote was born like every other child. Nigeria became endowed with this great son of Africa.

As a new born baby, he cried, laughed, played and fed like every other new born baby. Nothing special differentiated this boy from every other child. But the huge call of greatness and burden of destiny was on him. Like every other legends cum giants in different fields that had worked the surface of this earth, who started manifesting signs of greatness early, little Aliko was set to embark on turbulent sojourn to the land of greatness. He didn’t choose his field of assignment or sphere of exploits, nature chose for him.
He was born an entrepreneur. He was genetically wired to be a great salesman, quintessential industrialist and ambitious risk taker. The business ingenuity overwhelmed him very early, and railroaded him into childhood entrepreneurial adventures. In order to express this entrepreneurial grit cum gift, Aliko began buying sweet (candy) to sell—even to his fellow children. The burning desire to venture into business was all over him, of which he nurtured consistently.

In 1977, the young, energetic and pragmatic Dangote took a dive into the swirling ocean of business. He subsequently moved to economic capital of West Africa—Lagos, for his business career. Being born a northerner with Muslim background, didn’t stop him from moving down south. He grew up as a detribalised cum cosmopolitan Nigerian, where he made more southern friends than northern. This personality, coupled with business dexterity, shrewdness and entrepreneurial prowess, set him on the runway of greatness, where not even force of gravity could stop his geometric rise into fame and fortune.

The flight of his greatness having taken off, few years down the line, Dangote had become a household name in Nigeria in the business of commodities and importation of raw materials like cement, sugar, flour, etcetera. As an avid believer in local content, he ventured into industrialisation; building factories and plants for his cement, sugar, flour, etcetera, companies, respectively, in Nigeria. He pursued this philosophy that Nigeria should not be a dumping ground for imported goods alone; the nation can become industrial hub of Africa where finished products are exported to other African countries and beyond.

By then, he had emerged as Nigeria’s number one industrialist, employer of labor, philanthropist and astute entrepreneur. And subsequently hit the continental spotlight as Pan-African industrialist and richest black man on earth, riding on the back of his multi-billion-dollar conglomerate, Dangote Group, with many of its operations in Zambia, Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, etcetera. At the latest Forbes ranking released for 2021, the Kano-born billionaire was worth $12 billion dollars—retaining his position as richest in the continent.

Dangote had so much blazed a trail in the nation’s economy via his vast business interests and tens of thousands of Nigerians on his payroll, that Nigerian government under former President Goodluck Jonathan considered it necessary to recognize his giant strides, by awarding him the second-highest honour in the land—the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON); unprecedented in the annals of our history, for a non-public officer holder to clinch such exalted award.

In 2014, CNBC enlisted this Nigerian illustrious son amongst the “Top 25 Businessmen in the world that changed and shaped the century”. At about the same period, prestigious Time Magazine featured him among its “100 most Influential People in the World”. The following year of 2015, Bloomberg recognized him as one of the “50 Most Influential Individuals in the World”. Dangote, GCON, has been on the Forbes list for close to a decade as the “Most Powerful Man in Africa”.

This industrial icon cum entrepreneurial tycoon has revolutionized critical sectors of Nigeria economy and beyond. For instance, his cement company, Dangote Cement, is the largest cement producing industry in Africa, with conspicuous presence in ten African countries, with production capacity of up to 48.6 million tonnes, annually. In sugar refining sector, the leviathan presence of this industrial maven is also magnificent and unparalleled.

Dangote Sugar Refinery controls estimated 70% of sugar market in the country, of which supplies companies, breweries and confectioners. It is the largest sugar refinery in Africa and the third in the world; producing estimated amount of 800,000 tonnes of sugar annually. The same feat is replicated in flour, salt, rice, tomatoes, etcetera. Dangote Group is not only the biggest conglomerate in Africa but the most diversified. Anytime I see Dangote’s picture, I do gaze at it and ponder in awe: what manner of man is this—how does he gets all these chains of factories, plants, refineries, offices, etcetera, running at the same time?

Despite all these mountainous and enviable feats already achieved, Dangote does not stop dreaming, thinking and building big. The more he builds; the more he discovers how much he has not built and new frontiers yet to be conquered. He sees greatness as a journey and not a destination. This ideology lead him into oil and fertilizer sectors. In order to solve the problems of petrol crisis and limited fertilizer for farmers in Nigeria and beyond, Dangote embarked on what analysts described as “overambitious drive” of projects executed by a single individual in the history of Africa.

When African richest billionaire conceived the vision to build biggest petroleum refinery and fertilizer plant in Africa, albeit simultaneously, many naysayers thought he wasn’t being “realistic”. When juxtaposed with failures of government-owned four refineries and cesspool of corrupt they have become via Turn Around Maintenance (TAM), faint-hearted entrepreneur would have recoiled to his shells of comfort; out of fear of uncertainties—but not Alhaji Aliko Dangote—who is renowned for daring to thread where mere mortals dread to venture into.

Against all odds, the construction of Dangote Petrochemical Complex—comprising oil refinery and fertilizer plant, commenced at Ibeju-Lekki; sited on nearly 2,635 hectares of land—six times the size of Victoria Island of Lagos. The Dangote Oil Refinery is the largest refinery in Africa with capacity of 650,000 barrels-per-day, while the fertilizer plant is the world’s largest, with installed capacity of 3 million Tonnes annually.

This is huge and mind-blowing. Dangote Petrochemical Complex became biggest construction site in Africa! The Refinery has the potential to meet Nigeria’s pressing need of refined petroleum products and still export to neighboring countries, when it comes on stream. From sugar to flour to cement to fertilizer to oil, Dangote has left an indelible footprints of entrepreneurship cum industrialism on the sands of Africa. Imagine for a second, lives and families that are tied to ingenuity of one man. Incredible!

His philanthropic milestones through Dangote Foundation, is another plethora and cascades of achievements that will take a full article to enumerate. Numerous in the endless list of his philanthropic strides, is the renovation of National Stadium, and now known as MKO Abiola Stadium. As a sports lover, he has invested a lot to support both the National Team and local leagues. The efforts of CACOVID Committee led by him was felt by the masses via the palliatives distributed to various states governments, to share to the populace.
As Dangote, GCON, celebrates his birthday, my greatest wish is that may he reproduce many other Dangotes before his time on earth is up. He has really impacted his generation. Happy Birthday, sir. And many happy returns.
––Nwobodo writes from Abuja via chidieberenwobodo@yahoo.com.