AFC backs Dangote’s $7 billion fertiliser expansion with $600 million loan as billionaire targets world’s largest urea business

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has committed $600 million to support Dangote Group’s fertiliser expansion programme in Nigeria and Ethiopia, backing a project that could transform Africa’s position in the global fertiliser market.

• AFC has provided a $600 million loan to support Dangote Group’s $7 billion fertiliser expansion programme.
• The project will increase Nigerian urea production from 3 million to 9 million tonnes annually and fund a new 3 million-tonne plant in Ethiopia.
• Dangote says the expansion could generate more than $4 billion in annual export earnings for Nigeria.
• The investment supports Africa’s push to reduce fertiliser imports and strengthen food security.

The financing, extended to Greenview Fertiliser Corporation, forms part of Dangote Group’s broader $7 billion fertiliser growth strategy and is among the largest recent funding commitments to fertiliser production on the continent.

AFC said the investment will support capacity expansion in Nigeria and the development of a new fertiliser complex in Ethiopia.

In Nigeria, the project will increase production capacity at the Dangote Fertiliser Plant in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, from 3 million metric tonnes of urea annually to 9 million tonnes.

The Ethiopia project will add another 3 million tonnes of annual production capacity, creating a combined 12 million-tonne platform across West and East Africa.

The expansion moves Dangote closer to an ambition that Aliko Dangote has publicly outlined before: making Africa self-sufficient in fertiliser and positioning his company as the world’s largest urea producer.

In 2025, the billionaire said he wanted to surpass Qatar and eliminate Africa’s dependence on imported fertiliser within 40 months.

Dangote said the latest expansion could generate more than $4 billion in annual fertiliser export earnings for Nigeria within three years.

“What he’s actually given us this money for is a company where by the next three years we’ll be able to have an export of over $4 billion worth of urea fertilizer,” Dangote said.

“I think it is a big contribution to the foreign exchange income of the country.”

The fertiliser business has become one of Dangote Group’s most important industrial investments outside its refinery operations. Since beginning commercial production in 2022, the Lagos facility has supplied local farmers while exporting to markets across Africa, Europe and the Americas.

For Nigeria, the significance extends beyond agriculture. The country has spent decades relying heavily on crude oil exports for foreign exchange earnings.

Policymakers have repeatedly called for stronger non-oil export sectors capable of generating dollar inflows and reducing pressure on the naira.

A fertiliser business generating more than $4 billion annually in export revenue would rank among the country’s most important non-oil foreign exchange earners.

The project also addresses a longstanding challenge facing African agriculture.

Africa remains heavily dependent on imported fertiliser, leaving farmers exposed to global supply disruptions and price shocks.

The vulnerability became clear after the Russia-Ukraine war disrupted global fertiliser markets, sending prices sharply higher and increasing food production costs across many African countries.

A larger domestic supply base could help reduce those risks while improving access to fertiliser for African farmers, who continue to use fertiliser at rates well below the global average.

The Ethiopia investment is particularly significant because it gives Dangote a second major production hub outside Nigeria.

Earlier this year, Dangote Group increased planned investment in the Ethiopian project to more than $4 billion from an earlier estimate of $2.5 billion, underscoring the scale of its commitment to the East African market.

AFC President and Chief Executive Officer Samaila Zubairu said the transaction reflects the institution’s strategy of recycling capital into high-impact African industrial projects.

According to AFC, the corporation previously invested in Dangote Industries Limited and received full repayment before redeploying and doubling that capital into the fertiliser expansion programme.

If completed as planned, the Nigeria and Ethiopia projects would create one of the largest fertiliser production platforms globally and strengthen Africa’s efforts to improve food security, reduce import dependence and build more value-added industrial exports.