LAGOS, Nigeria, June 15/APO Group: Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the continent’s infrastructure solutions provider, is helping drive USD 7 billion fertiliser expansion programme spearheaded by Dangote Group, aimed at triple production capacity in Nigeria while at the same time, establishing a major new manufacturing platform in Ethiopia.
As a cornerstone commitment to the programme, AFC is providing a USD 600 million facility to Greenview Fertiliser Corp., Dangote’s fertiliser holding company. The transaction deepens AFC’s longstanding partnership with Dangote Group across some of Africa’s most consequential industrial projects.
AFC was Co-Coordinating Bank on a USD 3 billion syndicated loan for Dangote Refinery, where it recently received full repayment of its foundational USD 300 million senior term loan to Dangote Industries Limited, which helped advance the refinery from concept to reality. The redeployment at double this amount into Dangote Group underscores AFC’s model of providing early-stage risk capital before recycling into the next generation of transformative projects once assets reach stable, cash-generative operations.
The fertiliser investment helps position Africa to get ahead of structural trends shaping long-term development priorities, including rapid population growth, rising food demand, climate-related pressures on agricultural systems and the need to capture greater value from natural resources.
Despite holding some of the world’s largest natural gas reserves and a quarter of its uncultivated arable land, Africa remains reliant on imported fertilizer, making expanded production critical to food security and agricultural resilience.
Dangote’s expansion programme is projected to increase urea fertiliser production capacity in Nigeria from 3 million metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 9 MTPA, while adding a new 3 MTPA urea fertiliser plant in Ethiopia. It is expected to strengthen regional food security, support agricultural productivity, reduce dependence on imported fertilizer and bolster the continent’s position as a supplier to international markets.
Commenting on the transaction, President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, said: “This investment marks another important milestone in our long-standing partnership with AFC as we embark on the next phase of Dangote Fertilizer’s growth. Expanding our fertiliser production capacity in Nigeria and developing a new plant in Ethiopia will strengthen Africa’s food security, support agricultural productivity, and deepen the continent’s industrial base. AFC has consistently supported Dangote Group at critical stages of our growth, and its renewed commitment reflects confidence in our vision to build globally competitive African industrial platforms”.
While President & CEO of AFC, Samaila Zubairu said: “The question before Africa is simple: how will we feed 2.5 billion people by 2050? Africa’s 1.5 billion people consume just 6 million tonnes of urea annually, compared to 40 million tonnes in India and 50 million tonnes in China, despite having similar-sized populations. Closing this productivity gap is essential to Africa’s food security. By supporting the development of the world’s largest fertiliser platform, AFC is helping build the foundation for Africa to feed itself, create productive jobs and strengthen our economic sovereignty. This is not just an investment in fertilizer production. It is evidence of the Africa we are building.”
