DANGOTE JOKES OVER SHAREHOLDER MEMES, ANNOUNCES 2028 FERTILISER IPO

Africa’s richest man and founder of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has reacted to the viral social media posts by new Nigerian shareholders joking about their ownership of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

Dangote also confirmed that the group plans to take its fertiliser business public in 2028.

He made the disclosure during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum on Sunday while discussing the ownership structure of his businesses and plans to bring more investors into the group.

Speaking about the possibility of having more shareholders, Dangote said the group had historically operated without partners but was now seeking to bring a large number of people into its businesses as investors.

“You must have seen that they’ve been calling me now for a board meeting,” Dangote said, referring to the social media trend among Nigerians who recently purchased shares in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

His comment comes amid a wave of memes and humorous posts triggered by the ongoing initial public offering of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which has been promoted as a “people’s IPO.”

Some retail investors who purchased the minimum 10 shares have taken to social media to portray themselves humorously as co-owners and executives of the refinery.

Some Nigerians have created certificates featuring their photographs and titles such as “chief investment officer” and “co-founder and partner.”

Others have shared videos and posts joking about monitoring the refinery’s performance, checking in at the facility or holding virtual meetings with Dangote.

The idea of holding a “board meeting” with the billionaire has also become a recurring joke in online discussions surrounding the refinery’s share offer.

Meanwhile, Dangote confirmed that the group intends to list its fertiliser business through an initial public offering.

When asked about plans for the fertiliser business, he said, “Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, we will IPO it. It’s going to be the biggest fertilizer company on earth.”

Asked when the listing would take place, Dangote gave 2028 as the target year.

Dangote Fertiliser currently operates a $2.5bn fertiliser plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, with an annual production capacity of about three million tonnes of urea.

The Dangote Group has also announced plans to increase its fertiliser production capacity to about 12 million tonnes annually by 2028.

The planned expansion includes additional capacity in Nigeria and a proposed fertiliser plant in Ethiopia.

Dangote has previously said the expansion would position the fertiliser business among the world’s largest urea producers.

The 2028 timeline represents the latest public indication from Dangote regarding the planned listing of the fertiliser business.

The announcement comes as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO continues to attract interest from Nigerian retail investors, giving members of the public an opportunity to acquire shares in the refinery