The President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that the company plans to begin exporting up to 16,000 tonnes of fertiliser daily within the next two years, generating about $7 million in daily revenue for the Federal Government.

Dangote made this known during a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Ports Authority headquarters in Marina, Lagos, on Monday.

Dangote noted that the fertiliser exports would make the company a leading source of foreign exchange earnings for Nigeria.

“In the next two years, we will be exporting about 16,000 tonnes of fertiliser. When you talk about 16,000 tonnes of fertiliser, it’s about $6.5m to $7m revenue that will be coming into the country daily. With our export programme, our company will be the major supplier of foreign exchange earnings in Nigeria,” Dangote said.

Africa’s richest man also disclosed that Dangote Industries will begin exporting coal in the coming weeks, further boosting the company’s contribution to Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings.

“In the next couple of weeks, we will start exporting coal out of Nigeria. The refinery operations will not export less than 25 million tonnes of various products. We will also be exporting about 600,000 to 700,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene.

“So when you are talking about export, we are going to be very big,” he said.

Dangote emphasized the importance of collaborating with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to develop the Marine and Blue Economy sector, with a focus on expanding Nigeria’s export operations.

He noted that, as the NPA’s largest customer, it is crucial to maintain a strong and continuous relationship between Dangote Industries Limited and the authority.

“I think this kind of interaction is very important for the growth of the industry. We discussed quite a lot of issues. We also discussed issues of how to deepen the Marine and Blue Economy sector. And we have agreed to work together for the benefit of Nigeria,” he stated.

Dangote explained that the size of their operations at Lekki alone is almost 240 ships of crude, with each ship carrying one million crude.

“And then we will have products which now will amount to over 600 ships in a year. Then we also have our fertiliser operation, which will be loading almost eight ships. This is an operation that has never, ever been seen in the country,” he said.

Dangote emphasized the vital role of the NPA in the success of Dangote Industries, stating that the company’s operations would be severely affected without the necessary support and services from the NPA.

He underscored the need for continued collaboration to ensure smooth and efficient export activities.

The NPA will need a lot of support from the Federal Government because they won’t be able to do these things with their own physical hands; they need equipment, and they need more tug boats. We will also be putting in a few words in the necessary quarters to make sure that NPA gets all the necessary assistance from the Federal Government,” he said.

In the area of export, Dangote said, “We will soon be massively expanding our export operations. We are already exporting cement out of Nigeria. We have a whole factory of six million tons for cement export. So the operations of Nigerian ports will double in the next one or two years.”

Earlier, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, explained that the visit was part of Aliko Dangote’s effort to express appreciation for the benefits derived from the Federal Government’s naira-for-crude sale policy.

“Dangote is here to show appreciation, especially regarding the establishment of the One-Stop-Shop policy on naira for crude deals, which is being coordinated by the NPA. He is here to appreciate that the initiative has contributed immensely to achieving a lot of efficiency in the area of transactions and operations between government agencies,” he said.

Dantsoho noted that since the naira-for-crude sale policy was introduced in October 2024, the NPA has been handling an average of 57 vessels per month, highlighting the policy’s positive impact on port activities.

“The projected volume that Dangote was looking at per annum was 600 vessels. If you do 56 or 57 vessels in 12 months, you will see that we are already doing bigger than what they projected. We will continue to do our best with support from the government. If all agencies of government can collaborate and be on the same dashboard, then efficiencies in other sectors of the economy will also be witnessed,” Dantsoho stated.