Africa has handed over its economic potential to foreigners by importing over $90 billion worth of petroleum products, warned Nigerian entrepreneur Aliko Dangote, who owns the seventh largest oil refinery in the world. This is despite the fact that Africa produces ample crude oil, yet imports over 120 million tons of refined petroleum products annually worth more than the GDP of 85% of African countries, Dangote said at the West African Refined Fuel Conference in Abuja on July 24.
“We are effectively handing over an entire continent’s economic potential to others—year after year,” Dangote said, adding that Africa is “more than capable of producing” refined products itself, yet it refines only about 40% of its daily consumption, thus allowing cheap foreign fuels to enter the market.
Countering the free market dogmas many Africans accept, he criticized countries paying higher premiums and unfair transportation costs by buying African crude oil from international traders, rather than directly for producers like Nigeria. He also said different national fuel standards block cross-border refined product trade within the continent.
