AFC backs $7bn Dangote fertilizer project

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is backing a $7 billion expansion of Dangote Group’s fertilizer business to triple urea capacity in Nigeria and build a new plant in Ethiopia, in a major push to shore up Africa’s food security. AFC is providing a $600 million facility to Greenview Fertilizer Corp., Dangote’s fertilizer holding company, anchoring a programme that will lift Nigerian urea output from 3 million t/y to 9 million t/y and add a 3 M t/y unit in Ethiopia.

The deal extends AFC’s long relationship with Dangote, including a $3 billion syndicated loan for the Dangote Refinery and an initial $300 million term loan that has now been fully repaid and effectively recycled into new projects. AFC and Dangote frame the fertilizer build-out as a response to rapid population growth, rising food demand and supply-chain shocks that have exposed Africa’s reliance on imported fertilizer.

Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, said the expansion “will strengthen Africa’s food security, support agricultural productivity, and deepen the continent’s industrial base”, adding that AFC’s renewed backing “reflects confidence in our vision to build globally competitive African industrial platforms”.

Samaila Zubairu, AFC President & CEO, said the central question is “how will we feed 2.5 billion people by 2050?”, arguing that closing Africa’s fertilizer use gap with India and China is “essential to Africa’s food security”.

AFC said the transaction aligns with its mandate to invest in systems critical infrastructure in energy, transport, logistics, industrial processing and food security, while Greenview highlighted that Dangote Fertilizer Limited already operates Africa’s largest granulated urea plant at Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, with current capacity of 3 MTPA and expansion plans to reach 9 M t/y under the new programme.