• Dangote Group generates over 1,500 MW, a third of Nigeria’s available power.
• Dangote says Nigeria should generate 50,000-60,000 MW, citing systemic failures.
• He urges local investment in energy, blaming capital flight for power deficits.

Dangote Group generates over 1,500 megawatts (MW) of electricity for its industrial operations. This amount represents roughly one-third of Nigeria’s effectively available capacity, estimated at between 4,500 and 5,000 MW. Rather than viewing this as a personal triumph, Aliko Dangote describes this imbalance as a symptom of a troubling structural deficiency within the country's power sector.

Nigeria’s installed electricity capacity is approximately 13,000 MW, yet only 4,500 to 5,000 MW are operationally available. During a visit to his Lagos refinery on Thursday, July 17, Dangote stated, "We as a company alone are producing, group-wide for our own consumption, over 1,500 MW. So, Nigeria should not be three times what we are producing as a country." The industrialist believes the country should be generating between 50,000 and 60,000 MW, figures consistent with an economy of Nigeria's size.

In Nigeria, the government has lost control over power generation, leading large private conglomerates to establish their own independent power sources. For Dangote, this demonstrates that the primary obstacles are neither technological nor financial. He asserted, "What we have actually done here is much more difficult than making Nigeria 25,000 or 30,000 megawatts of power, with transmission and distribution."

He also urged Nigerian investors to reinvest their capital in strategic energy projects locally rather than sending it abroad. Dangote reminded them that the domestic electricity sector is now privatized and no longer exclusively controlled by the state. He believes capital flight, coupled with the absence of a supportive environment, impedes the development of a robust national energy supply.

Dangote lamented, "There’s nowhere that you will say that there’s no corruption. There are lots of countries that have more corruption than we do, but they are growing. Our biggest problem and challenge is that people who have stolen money have taken the money abroad."

Olivier de Souza