In Lagos, Nigeria, the Dangote mega-refinery is set to be listed on the stock exchange in what is being described as a historic deal for Africa. Beyond the billions being raised, the aim is to turn ordinary citizens into co-owners of a major industrial asset, on a continent that still imports more than 70% of its refined fuel.
On Monday, September 14, 2026, in Lagos, Nigeria, the Dangote mega-refinery launched the largest initial public offering (IPO) ever held in Africa. A total of 4.1 billion ordinary shares are being offered at 525 naira per share, equivalent to USD 0.40. The offering, open until October 13, 2026, aims to raise USD 1.62 billion, based on an estimated valuation of the Lekki refinery at USD 47 billion. The project dates back to its initial financing, which was completed in 2013.
For us it was, I wouldn’t say it was easy or difficult, but it was just what you needed to do to get things going. And it took us quite a while to execute the project. We raised the financing in 2013, thereabouts, and the project took a while to be fully executed. So you can imagine what we were going through in terms of repaying the loans before we even completed the project. And so that put a lot of pressure on the group’s cash flows. We were able to surmount the problems.
Olakunle Alake, Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited
The minimum investment has been set at 5,250 naira, or USD 4, for ten shares, making the offer deliberately accessible. The stated goal is to attract up to 10 million retail investors, a scale that reflects the group’s ambition to anchor this industrial project in Nigerian and African public savings, beyond traditional institutional funds.
Without this refinery, the government wouldn’t have been able to actually deregulate, because they had nothing to deregulate. That’s number one. Number two, the exchange rate would have been at still 1800-1900. The results that we are also talking about wouldn’t have been where it is now, at 50. Because all this thing is actually being caused by this refinery. If not because of the refinery, we would not see all this progress.
Aliko Dangote , Chairman of Dangote Industries Limited
The funds raised will be used to increase the refinery’s processing capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2029. This output would make Lekki a strategic pillar of Africa’s energy supply, helping to reduce the continent’s long-term dependence on imported fuels and positioning Africa as a major player in the global oil-refining industry.
