The President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has announced that the company plans to begin exporting nearly 16,000 tonnes of fertilizer over the next two years, which will amount to about $7m daily revenue to the Federal Government.
Dangote disclosed this when he paid a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the Nigerian Ports Authority in Marina, Lagos. He also noted that the fertiliser exports would position the company as a leading source of foreign exchange earnings in the country.
He also revealed that the company will begin coal exports in the next couple of weeks. “In the next couple of weeks, we will start exporting coal out of Nigeria. The refinery operations will not export less than 25 million tonnes of various products. We will also be exporting about 600,000 to 700,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene. So when you are talking about export, we are going to be very big,” he stated.
He emphasized the importance of collaborating with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on the development of the Marine and Blue Economy sector, highlighting plans to boost Nigeria’s export capacity. He stressed that as the NPA’s largest customer, it is crucial to maintain a strong and ongoing relationship between the NPA and Dangote Industries Limited (DIL).
He went on to highlight the scale of Dangote Industries’ operations at the Lekki axis, noting that they handle nearly 240 crude oil ships annually, each carrying one million barrels. “And then we will have products which now will amount to over 600 ships in a year. Then we also have our fertilizer operation, which will be loading almost eight ships. This is an operation that has never, ever been seen in the country,” he said.
Dangote stressed the critical role of the NPA in supporting his company’s operations, stating they would struggle without the agency’s services. He called for increased federal support for the NPA, noting their need for more equipment and tugboats, and pledged to advocate for the agency to receive the necessary assistance.
Speaking on export plans, Dangote revealed that the company is set to significantly scale up its export activities. “We will soon be massively expanding our export operations. We are already exporting cement out of Nigeria. We have a whole factory of six million tons for cement export. So, the operations of Nigerian ports will double in the next one or two years,” he stated.
Earlier, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, stated that the visit was an opportunity for Dangote to express appreciation for the Federal Government’s crude-for-naira policy. He noted that since the policy’s implementation in October 2024, the NPA has been handling an average of 57 vessels monthly.
Dantsoho also announced the government’s approval of the National Single Window initiative and confirmed that the NPA is 95% ready to launch the Port Community System.
Speaking on port development, he explained, “There are two ways you can handle capacity improvement/expansion or deepen port capacity. You can do it on a brownfield, which is when you renovate or rehabilitate existing ports, or on a greenfield, which is to build new ports.”
