Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is seeking an additional $5bn to expand his refinery in Lagos.
The new President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export-Import Bank, George Elombi, made this disclosure on Saturday while speaking during his inaugural address at Afreximbank’s investiture ceremony in Cairo, Egypt capital.
Elombi said Dangote personally informed him of the plan earlier in the day, adding that the bank would explore all possible avenues to raise the funds.
“Alhaji Dangote indicated to me this morning that he will be coming for an additional $5bn to expand the refinery. We have agreed to look for the money wherever it is, in Afreximbank, in your individual accounts. We believe it has to be done.
“If it is done, it will double his production and cut prices by 50 per cent, maybe for Nigeria and for all the countries along this West African coast. This will be a significant change,” he told the gathering.
Elombi said the expansion, if completed, would transform fuel supply in the sub-region and bring down costs in a way that would ripple across West African economies.
In his speech, Elombi also praised his predecessor, Professor Benedict Oramah, whose tenure saw the bank’s assets rise more than eightfold to $43.5bn in a decade, revenues climb to $3.24bn, and shareholders’ funds increase from $1bn to $7.5bn.
READ ALSO: Nigeria recorded Over $50 billion Cryptocurrency Transactions In One Year – SEC DG
He pledged to build on these achievements and outlined his vision for the bank, including support for value addition in strategic minerals, deeper implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, investments in trade-enabling infrastructure, and the use of digital technology to strengthen integration.
Elombi warned, however, of growing external hostility to Africa’s multilateral financial institutions, which he described as coordinated attacks on African sovereignty.
According to him, Afreximbank’s mandate is to change the structure of Africa’s trade by financing production and processing, not to remain a narrow commodity financier.
“How can Africa trade unless it produces? And how can it produce without transforming the very structure of its trade? This structural transformation is not mission drift; it is mission delivery,” he said.
Elombi, who also added that Afreximbank’s shareholders had set him the target of growing the bank’s balance sheet to $250bn within 10 years, while some African leaders had challenged him to aim for $350bn, said this ambition would be pursued with sound risk management, stressing that every dollar on the bank’s balance sheet must translate into real impact across the continent.
The $20bn Dangote Refinery was largely financed by Afreximbank and has been described as a game changer in Nigeria’s energy landscape.
