ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Nigerian billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote has wrapped up a high-profile visit to Ethiopia, sealing a massive $4bn (£3.2bn) investment package to construct a giant urea fertiliser plant in the country’s eastern Somali region.
The project, centred in the town of Gode, was initially negotiated as a $2.5bn venture but has ballooned to over $4bn after the Dangote Group expanded the scope to include a massive infrastructure corridor.
The deal marks a significant deepening of commercial ties between Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria, and its second-most populous nation, Ethiopia, as both countries push aggressively toward agricultural self-sufficiency.
A Multibillion-Dollar Infrastructure Corridor
The centre of the investment is a state-of-the-art facility designed to churn out three million metric tonnes of urea annually.
However, because the Gode site sits in a remote, arid stretch of the country, the Dangote Group is building its own support network from scratch. According to company specifications, the expanded $4bn budget will now fund:
- A 110-kilometre pipeline to supply vital raw materials to the site.
- A 120-megawatt captive power plant to insulate the factory from regional grid outages.
- A polypropylene packaging facility to manufacture bags for distribution.
- A secondary two-million-tonne NPK blending plant to produce tailored soil nutrients.
“In totality, our investment so far—declared, agreed on, and signed off—is over four billion dollars in Ethiopia,” Aliko Dangote announced over the weekend. “Ethiopia actually is the second-largest receiver of our investment [on the continent].”
‘A Win-Win Alliance’
The Ethiopian government has designated the megaproject as a cornerstone of its national security. The country relies heavily on imported fertilisers to feed its massive agricultural sector, leaving it highly vulnerable to global supply chain shocks.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed personally hosted the Nigerian tycoon, describing food security as a “strategic intervention” that his administration is determined to achieve.
“Our interest is to have him in many areas because he’s delivering,” Prime Minister Abiy said, backing the billionaire’s track record in cement manufacturing across the continent. “As a government, we want to support him and realize our common vision. It’s a win-win for both of us.”
Targeting the East African Market
By producing three million tonnes of urea locally, Addis Ababa hopes to completely halt fertiliser imports while positioning itself as a major regional exporter.
The plant’s location in the Somali region offers a strategic transit point to ship surplus fertilisers across the border into neighbouring Somalia, Kenya, and Djibouti.
The venture is a mirror of the Dangote Group’s huge petrochemical strategy in Nigeria where its new refinery and fertiliser complexes are meant to make Africa turn away from its historical dependence on imported European and Asian commodities.
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