Dangote Reacts to ‘Board Meeting’ Memes, Confirms 2028 Fertiliser IPO

Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has reacted to the wave of social media jokes by new shareholders of Dangote Petroleum Refinery, while confirming that the group’s fertiliser business will be listed on the stock market in 2028.

Dangote made this known during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum on Sunday, where he discussed the ownership structure of his businesses and plans to bring more investors into the group.

The billionaire businessman acknowledged the humorous reactions from Nigerians who recently bought shares in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

According to him, some of the new shareholders have been jokingly demanding a board meeting since becoming investors in the refinery.

“You must have seen that they’ve been calling me now for a board meeting,” Dangote said.

The comments come amid a growing trend on social media following the ongoing initial public offering (IPO) of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which has been promoted as a “people’s IPO.”

Some retail investors who purchased the minimum of 10 shares have taken to social media to jokingly present themselves as co-owners and executives of the refinery.

Some have shared certificates carrying their photographs and humorous titles such as “chief investment officer” and “co-founder and partner.” Others have posted videos joking about monitoring the refinery’s performance and holding virtual meetings with Dangote.

The “board meeting” joke has become a prominent part of online conversations surrounding the refinery’s share offer.

Meanwhile, Dangote confirmed that his group’s fertiliser business will also be taken to the capital market.

When asked whether the fertiliser business would be listed, he said the company would be offered to investors through an IPO.

“Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, we will IPO it. It’s going to be the biggest fertilizer company on earth,” Dangote said.

When asked about the expected timeline, he confirmed that the IPO is planned for 2028.

Dangote Fertiliser currently operates a $2.5 billion fertiliser plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, with an annual production capacity of about three million tonnes of urea.

The Dangote Group has also announced plans to expand its fertiliser production capacity to about 12 million tonnes annually by 2028.

The planned expansion includes further development of its Nigerian operations and a proposed fertiliser plant in Ethiopia.

Dangote has previously said the expansion would help position the fertiliser business among the world’s largest urea producers.

The confirmation of the 2028 IPO represents the latest public timeline given by Dangote for the planned listing of the fertiliser business.

The development comes as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s IPO continues to attract interest from retail investors, with the share offer opening part of the refinery’s ownership to members of the public.