Lagos, Nigeria – President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, has lauded the Dangote Petroleum Refinery as a symbol of African ambition, vision, and industrial self-reliance, describing it as a game-changer for the continent’s economic future.
Dr. Touray made the statement during a high-level visit to the 650,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Lagos, the largest single-train refinery in the world. The visit was part of ECOWAS’s ongoing efforts to foster collaboration between the regional bloc and the private sector to drive industrialization and sustainable development across West Africa.
“What I have seen today gives me tremendous hope,” Touray said. “Everyone who doubts Africa’s potential needs to visit this facility. This is what Africa should be doing — building for itself, at scale, and to the highest global standards.”
The ECOWAS delegation included top officials such as Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation, Sediko Douka; Commissioner for Internal Services, Prof. Nazifi Abdullahi Darma; Director of Private Sector/SME, Dr. Tony Luka Elumelu; and Chief of Staff to the ECOWAS President, Abdou Kolley.
Dr. Touray emphasized the significance of the refinery in helping ECOWAS member states meet the region’s 50ppm sulphur limit for fuels — a standard often violated by imported products. He stressed that Africa must leverage homegrown industrial capacities to reduce health and environmental risks.
“We continue to import substandard petroleum products when companies like Dangote are producing cleaner, higher-quality fuels right here in Africa,” he noted. “The private sector must lead Africa’s industrial transformation.”
He called for stronger policy alignment between African governments and industrial players, stating that ECOWAS must prioritize listening to the private sector to effectively address economic challenges such as youth unemployment and poverty.
“As we celebrate ECOWAS at 50, this visit allows us to hear directly from private sector leaders like Alhaji Dangote. We must stop making policies from a distance — we need real engagement,” Touray said.
He added that only the private sector had the capacity to scale up solutions to Africa’s core development challenges, urging governments to remove bottlenecks that hinder private initiatives.
Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, who led the delegation on a tour of the sprawling facility, reaffirmed his commitment to Africa’s economic independence through large-scale local production.
“As long as we keep importing what we can produce, Africa will remain underdeveloped,” Dangote said. “This refinery proves we can build at scale and meet global standards right here at home.”
He dispelled doubts over the refinery’s ability to meet Nigeria’s fuel demand, asserting that it is equipped to serve not only Nigeria but the entire West African region.
“When we started producing diesel last year, we slashed the price from N1,700 to N1,100. Today, it has dropped even further. That impact has supported industries, agriculture, and transport,” he explained.
Dangote also highlighted the price disparity between Nigeria and its neighbours, noting that while fuel prices in other West African countries average $1 per litre (about N1,600), the refinery supplies petrol locally at N815–N820 per litre — almost 45% lower.
He teased a major, unannounced initiative in the works, reiterating that the facility was built for Nigerians to enjoy maximum benefit.
“This refinery is for Nigeria and for Africa. We have much more coming, and the impact will continue to grow,” Dangote added.
Dr. Touray concluded the visit by pledging ECOWAS’s full support to regional industrial leaders like Dangote and urged other African nations to follow Nigeria’s example in investing in infrastructure that serves the entire continent.
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