Akinwumi Adesina has said that the $24 billion Dangote Petrochemicals Complex in Lagos signalled Africa’s potential to attract global capital for large and globally competitive industrial platforms.

Mr Adesina, the outgoing president of the African Development Bank, stated this at the 2025 Standard Chartered Bank Africa Summit, recently held in Lagos. He said the refinery, now supplying petroleum and petrochemicals to the Nigerian, other African, and global markets, showed Africa’s business viability and profitability in tilting global capital.

He underscored the need for African global corporations to be strongly supported with financing at scale, to establish global industrial platforms that will enable Africa to become a dominant player in critical areas in which it has a comparative advantage.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is a 650,000 barrels per day integrated refinery. Located in the Lekki Free Zone of Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, it is Africa’s largest oil refinery and the world’s largest single-train facility.

To buttress Mr Adesina’s position, the African Export-Import Bank announced on Tuesday that it has signed a $1.35 billion financing facility in favour of the refinery. 

The facility, according to the bank, is part of a larger, approximately 4 billion dollar syndicated financing arrangement for Dangote Industries Limited, Africa’s largest industrial conglomerate.

Afreximbank said the financing, one of the largest syndicated loans in recent African financial markets, will refinance capital expended on constructing the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex.

Mr Adesina also gave an example of the $20 billion Liquefied Natural Gas project in Mozambique, as another African business entity that attracted global capital for large and globally competitive industrial platforms.

The LNG project, according to him, attracted the largest foreign direct investment when it was structured. Other large corporates identified by Mr Adesina include: Goldfield Limited, one of the world’s largest gold mining firms. In South Africa, the market capitalisation is $17.46 billion.

Naspers Limited is a South African multinational holding company with a market capitalisation of $14.56 billion, focusing on internet, technology, and multimedia.

Others include the Vodacom Group, with a market capitalisation of $12.47 billion, and the MTN Group, with a market capitalisation of $10.99 billion.

Mr Adesina also revealed that, with Africa accounting for 30 per cent of all mineral reserves globally, the continent will shape the future of global energy transition.

According to him, with huge shares of critical minerals such as cobalt, platinum, and manganese, the continent will shape the future of manufacturing electric vehicles, mobile phones, computers, and defence systems.

Mr Adesina said that the rising and intense geopolitical jostling to access these critical minerals is already shaping global geopolitics in Africa. 

(NAN)