Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, says the coming sale of shares in his Lagos refinery is about spreading wealth across the continent.

The offer opens on 14 September. At 525 naira a share, with a minimum of 10 shares, the company wants market traders and factory workers in the register alongside big funds. If fully taken up, the sale would raise about $1.6bn and rank as Africa’s largest IPO.
Mr Dangote’s pitch is simple. The plant should not enrich only its founder.

“We want the Dangote refinery IPO to be like Amazon’s — where if you invest thousands of dollars today, you could become a millionaire in the years to come. We don’t want to be the only ones enjoying, we want to spread this enjoyment to the rest of Africans.”

The Lekki refinery cost about $20bn and now runs at roughly 700,000 barrels a day. It has reduced Nigeria’s fuel imports and sells jet fuel into Africa and Europe.

After a loss last year, it reported $1.82bn profit in the first half of 2026. The new money is meant to help double capacity to 1.4 million barrels a day.


Mr Dangote keeps control. The public is being asked to put its money in anyway — and to judge, years from now, whether Africa was invited to share the fortune or only to fund it.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​