President/chief executive, Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, has appealed to African leaders to take deliberate steps—just as the U.S., Canada, and the EU have done—to protect domestic producers from unfair competition, for the continent to experience real growth and development.

Speaking during the ongoing West African Refined Fuel Conference held in Abuja, Dangote said, “…to make matters worse, we are now facing increasing dumping of cheap, often toxic, petroleum products—some of which are blended to substandard levels that would never be allowed in Europe or North America.”

He also cited the growing influx of discounted, low-quality fuel originating from Russia — blended with Russian crude under price caps and dumped in African markets.

Revealing that the continent is handing over its economic potential to others and exporting jobs while importing poverty back into the continent, he said: “So, while we produce plenty of crude, we still import over 120 million tonnes of refined petroleum products each year, effectively exporting jobs and importing poverty into our continent. That’s a $90 billion market opportunity being captured by regions with surplus refining capacity.

“To put this in perspective: only about 15 per cent of African countries have a GDP greater than $90 billion. We are effectively handing over an entire continent’s economic potential to others—year after year,” he said.

He lamented that Africa is increasingly becoming a destination for cheap, often toxic petroleum products — many of which are blended to substandard levels that would not be permitted in Europe or North America.

Dangote revealed that, due to the continent’s limited domestic refining capacity, Africa imports over 120 million tonnes of refined petroleum products annually, at a cost of approximately $90 billion.

Dangote further stated that despite producing around 7 million barrels of crude oil per day, Africa only refines about 40 per cent of its 4.3 million barrels daily consumption of refined products domestically. In stark contrast, Europe and Asia refine over 95% of what they consume.