Aliko Dangote sat down with another online news media, ARISE News, for a wide-ranging interview covering petrol prices, cross-border smuggling, and how the refinery is responding to rising global crude costs.

He also spoke about his “People’s IPO,” his push for mass shareholder participation, his views on wealth and industrialisation, and rare personal reflections on succession, his daughters, and life without a son.

Below are edited highlights, presented as a direct question-and-answer transcript.

The Interview

Q Why does petrol remain expensive for Nigerians despite the country now refining fuel domestically on a large scale?

Ans “The expensive is relative. What they need to do is to ask, what is the neighbours’ price? I don’t know whether you know that there’s still a lot of smuggling of the same petrol into neighbouring countries.”

Q How much more expensive is petrol in those neighbouring countries?

Ans “Those neighbouring countries, they are about 30% to 50% more expensive than Nigeria. Even now at ₦1,350, the price in Niger is 20%, 25% more than Nigeria.”

Q Why does that price gap matter so much?

Ans “What business are you going to do that will make you have instant 25% on return? So it means that, yes, you take the risk to go and take it across the border. You pretend you are taking it to Sokoto, you go and just take it to Illela, and you succeed.”

“What business are you going to do that will make you have instant 25% on return?”

Q Can the refinery not simply sell below the international market price to help Nigerians?

Ans “The issue is that can we now go and sell below what the traded market is? No, we can’t do that, because we’re not getting that discount. Actually, we’re paying heavy premium on crude.”

Q Why did you wait before raising the pump price, given crude was already climbing?

Ans “We were watching it to see whether it was going to drop, but it wasn’t dropping; it was escalating.”

Cushioning Nigerians And Securing Supply

Q With crude prices rising because of the Middle East crisis, what is the refinery doing to reduce the burden on consumers?

Ans “What we are doing to cushion that effect, we’re actually now saying, ‘Okay, fine, you know what? Just pay, we roll out, you collect your product free.’ I’m sure if you check Maiduguri, you check South-East, you check South-South, you check Lagos, you see our trucks all over. They are delivering free of charge.”

Q How much can a marketer actually save from this free delivery?

Ans “Somebody who is going to Maiduguri, he will save ₦70 per litre. We’re advertising that, ‘Please come and collect, and we’re going to give you, and we’ll transport at zero cost.’ Which means from the refinery, the cost to the refinery in same Apapa is the same with Abeokuta, is the same with Asaba, is the same with everywhere.”

Q What does this programme cost the company?

Ans “At full scale, we’re going to give ₦90 billion a month, which means ₦1 point something trillion every year. That’s huge. But we’re trying to do that to see how, in this period, do we cushion the effect.”

“At full scale, we’re going to give ₦90 billion a month, which means ₦1 point something trillion every year. That’s huge.”

Q Should Nigerians be worried about shortages given the wider global crisis?

Ans “Nigeria should not worry that there will not be any shortages from our own part. There will not be any shortages, there will not be any queues, and we’ll make sure that we keep supplying the market despite all odds.”

Wealth, Industrialisation And Personal Life

Q You acquired your first private jet at about 22. Does personal wealth still matter to you the same way?

Ans “There’s nothing that I’ve not seen. What I see people now owning aircraft all over the place, flying all over, they don’t have one single factory. So it means that they’re not actually helping in growing the economy, and that has to change.”

Q You’ve lived in the same house for a long time. Any plans to move?

Ans “You know how long I’ve been here? Thirty-six years. I don’t plan on leaving. I’m very comfortable here. Once I come in in the evening, it’s difficult to take me out of my house.”

Q What is your ultimate legacy goal?

Ans “My own real biggest — what do I want to leave as a legacy — is to industrialise Africa. I cannot do it alone, but I’m 100% sure in the next two, three years, other Africans will join.”

Q Are foreign investors interested in putting their money into Africa?

Ans “Foreigners are very interested now, they want to invest in Africa, but they don’t have big-ticket items. So right now, they have started seeing big-ticket stuff, and they will join. And we will join to develop our own continent, Africa.”

The “People’s IPO” And Shareholder Democracy

Q You’ve said you want tens of thousands of shareholders attending your AGMs. How large a gathering are we talking about?

Ans “I think we are looking at now not having annual general meeting in the hotel like what we have been doing in other companies, no. This one, we’ll be stadium. I’m sure 70,000 people will gather for that annual general meeting.”

“This one, we’ll be stadium. I’m sure 70,000 people will gather for that annual general meeting.”

Q Why does that scale of participation matter to you?

Ans “We’ll encourage them to come and tell us how good we are running their company. If we are not running it well, they should blast us and tell us what to do.”

Q Are you willing to have your own shareholding diluted to bring in more small investors?

Ans “I don’t mind being diluted as much as possible because I want people to actually be part of this good journey. This is my main mission: to make sure that, yes, we democratise this share and give it to normal people.”

Nigeria’s Industrial Future, Succession And Family Legacy

Q You’ve made a striking prediction about Nigeria’s refining sector. What exactly did you say?

Ans “Under the current things that are going on, especially in the downstream, I cannot see any new refinery in our lifetime. Mark me and write it on board. I’m telling you today is 13th of September, 2026. I want me and you to review another September — I mean, 13th of September, year 2036. By God’s grace, if we’re all alive, by God’s grace, there will not be any refinery.”

“Mark me and write it on board… by God’s grace, there will not be any refinery.”

Q Why are you so confident about that prediction?

Ans “Because there is nothing to encourage anybody to do that. Not the interest rate, because the policy is not there to protect. If a government wants to create jobs, they want to create economic activities, they want to collect tax, they also have to give something in. And the only thing that they will give in is to protect the domestic industry.” He added separately that it is “very difficult to industrialise with interest rates at 30%.”

Q What happens to a country that keeps relying on imports instead of protecting domestic industry?

Ans “If you import, what you are doing is that you are importing poverty and exporting jobs that you’re supposed to create out of the country.”

“If you import, what you are doing is that you are importing poverty and exporting jobs that you’re supposed to create out of the country.”

Q Does Africa have enough entrepreneurs capable of taking on projects like yours?

Ans “They have, they have. But these entrepreneurs, most of these entrepreneurs, they are actually scared to death.”

Q Why can’t you convince other wealthy Nigerians to invest the way you do?

Ans “I’m trying my best, but everybody is not Aliko, who wants to fight every day. I fight every day, morning, day and night. It has become part of me now. I enjoy fighting.”

“I fight every day, morning, day and night. It has become part of me now. I enjoy fighting.”

Q Could one of your daughters eventually lead the Dangote Group?

Ans “I think, yes, I can see one of them. I’ve been watching all of them, so I can see definitely one of the three that can actually lead.”

Q Are they interested in the business, or do you push them into it?

Ans “They are very, very interested in the business. I’m not forcing them to come and be part of this business, no. They are very interested, and they enjoy it.”

Q Could they eventually surpass what you’ve built?

Ans “One of them can be better than — I never expected to perform this much. But I’m sure they’re highly educated, so they will be more creative. So most likely, they might be even taking the company to the next level.” Asked whether that applies to all three of his daughters, he said simply: “All of them.”

Q Given the traditional expectations in Kano around a male heir, do you still hope to have a son?

Ans “That one, I think, you know, it’s not my priority. God controls everything. And for me, really, sometimes, yeah, you can pray for God to give you a son, but that son might be the one that would tear down the name of the family. So sometimes when God doesn’t give you something, don’t push. Even if I had a son, I don’t think the son would have done better than these three daughters that I have.”

“Even if I had a son, I don’t think the son would have done better than these three daughters that I have.”

Q What matters more to you than keeping control within the family?

Ans “I want this company to be run professionally. I want to have the highest level of governance. We want to make sure that we make it very difficult for any family member to come and destroy anything.”