NEWS
“You Must Have Seen That They’ve Been Calling Me Now For a Board Meeting” — Dangote Reacts As Nigerians Declare Themselves ’Business Partners’ After Refinery IPO, Announces 2028 Fertiliser IPO
Africa’s richest man and Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has reacted to the growing wave of Nigerians jokingly declaring themselves his “business partners” after purchasing shares in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
The development has turned the refinery’s recently launched initial public offering (IPO) into more than just an investment opportunity, with social media users creatively portraying themselves as newly minted co-owners of one of Africa’s largest industrial projects.
Dangote addressed the trend during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum on Sunday, acknowledging the humorous reactions from some of the refinery’s new shareholders.
“You must have seen that they’ve been calling me now for a board meeting,” Dangote said.
The comments came against the backdrop of the Dangote Refinery’s IPO, which has been promoted as a “people’s IPO”, giving members of the public an opportunity to acquire shares and participate financially in the ownership of the massive refinery project.
Following the launch, social media platforms have been flooded with humorous posts from new investors presenting themselves as co-owners, executives and prospective board members of the refinery.
Some investors have shared mock ownership certificates bearing playful titles such as “chief investment officer” and “co-founder and partner,” while others have posted videos joking about their supposed new responsibilities as shareholders.
In some of the videos and posts, investors humorously demanded regular updates on the refinery’s operations, discussed the possibility of attending board meetings and imagined themselves sitting alongside Dangote as partners in the multibillion-dollar business.
The trend has added a distinctly Nigerian social-media flavour to the public offering, as investors turn their shareholdings into a source of humour and online banter.
Speaking about the decision to open up his businesses to a wider pool of investors, Dangote explained that his companies had historically been built and operated without external partners.
“We have actually everything we do by ourselves.
“We don’t have partners. But that’s why we are now looking for all these massive number of people to now become our partners,” he said.
The refinery IPO has attracted considerable public attention as Nigerians seek an opportunity to own a stake in the facility, which has become one of the most prominent industrial projects on the African continent.
The public interest has also transformed the share offer into a broader social-media phenomenon, with retail investors humorously suggesting that buying refinery shares has effectively earned them an invitation into Dangote’s business circle.
Beyond the refinery, Dangote also disclosed that another major business within his industrial empire is being prepared for a public offering.
During the Qatar Economic Forum interview, Dangote confirmed that the Dangote fertiliser business would eventually be listed through an IPO.
Asked whether the fertiliser company would be taken public, he responded:
“Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, we will IPO it. It’s going to be the biggest fertilizer company on earth.”
When asked when the proposed public offering would take place, Dangote provided a specific timeline:
“Yes, it will be 2028.”
Dangote Fertiliser currently operates a $2.5 billion fertiliser plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, with an annual production capacity of approximately three million tonnes of urea.
The company is also pursuing an ambitious expansion programme aimed at substantially increasing its production capacity.
By 2028, the group is targeting fertiliser production of about 12 million tonnes annually, combining expanded operations in Nigeria with plans for a proposed facility in Ethiopia.
The announcement places the planned fertiliser IPO alongside the refinery share offer as part of a broader strategy to bring more investors into Dangote’s expanding industrial businesses.
For Nigerians who have turned the refinery IPO into a running joke about suddenly becoming Dangote’s “business partners,” the billionaire’s latest disclosure has added another memorable moment 
to the unfolding story of the public offering.