Replicate Dangote-Scale Industrialists Across Sectors To Hit $1tn Economy – Expert

The Group managing director of Sujimoto Group, Dr. Sijibomi Ogundele, has said Nigeria’s path to $1 trillion economy target lies in replicating Dangote-scale industrialists across strategic sectors.

Ogundele said the country needs champions in steel, agriculture, technology, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing to convert capital into factories, jobs and exports, rather than more billionaires on a wealth list.

He stated this as Dangote Refinery prepares for Africa’s record N2.15 trillion Initial Public Offer (IPO), with shares offered to the public at N525 each and a minimum subscription of 10 shares.

Ogundele said Dangote’s achievement extends beyond the refinery to the scale of possibility it has forced the continent to accept.

He recalled visiting the Ibeju-Lekki complex five years ago, noting that the project challenged his own thinking on ambition and delivery.

“Our nation needs industrial champions of Dangote’s scale, a steel giant in Kaduna, a pharmaceutical leader in Anambra, an agro-processing powerhouse in Niger, a tech unicorn in Lagos, a manufacturing hub in Aba and Nnewi, and infrastructure developers in every geopolitical zone,” he stated.

According to him, Nigeria already has wealthy people. What we need are industrialists who convert capital into factories, technology, supply chains, apprenticeships, taxes and millions of productive jobs. Wealth can transform a family. Productive capacity can transform a nation.

He urged the federal government to identify ten proven Nigerian industrialists across ten strategic sectors and ask what it would take to build globally competitive enterprises within the next decade.

“Give them patient capital, critical infrastructure and predictable policy where justified, but demand measurable outcomes in factories, jobs, exports, technology transfer, Nigerian suppliers and local value. Fund them, enable them and monitor them,” he said.

Citing South Korea’s support for Samsung and Hyundai, Ogundele noted that Nigeria’s economy was slightly larger than Korea’s in 1960.

On the Dangote Refinery listing, Ogundele said the IPO democratises wealth ownership by allowing ordinary Nigerians to own part of the enterprise.

“Whether you are a gate man, janitor, driver, young graduate, general manager or billionaire, participation begins at N5,250. Millions of Africans who have spent years buying Dangote products can now consider owning the business producing that value,” he said.

He predicted the N525 shares could rise to N5,000 before 2030, as the refinery scales to 1.4 million barrels per day and advances plans for a 700,000 bpd facility in Kenya.

Ogundele pointed out that the greater dividend will be the productive capacity and audacity awakened in a new generation.