Dangote laments high cost of intra-African trade, calls for removal of barriers to regional integration
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has raised concerns over the high cost of doing business within the continent, saying it is often more expensive to ship goods from Lagos to Accra than from Spain to Nigeria.
He said the situation reflects deep inefficiencies in Africa’s trade and transport systems, which continue to undermine efforts at regional economic integration.
Speaking in an interview with Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation, Dangote highlighted persistent structural challenges affecting intra-African trade, including weak transport networks and fragmented trade routes.
“It costs more to ship from Lagos port to Accra than from Spain to Lagos,” he said, stressing the need for more efficient regional logistics systems.
“There’s no way you can do trade with your neighbours like this,” he added.
Dangote also noted that Africa’s shipping and logistics sector remains largely dominated by non-African operators, limiting the continent’s control over its own trade flows.
“When we look at the transportation sector, most of the people who own ships that move goods around are not Africans,” he said.
He further pointed to visa restrictions and border delays as major barriers to business and investment across the continent.
“Somebody like me needs 38 visas to move around. How do I invest now if I’m not able to move around? It doesn’t make sense. Nobody has time to keep applying for visas,” he said.
Dangote warned that without free movement of people, goods, and services, Africa’s economic potential will remain constrained.
“I cannot move my goods from Lagos to the Republic of Benin, and when you try to cross the border, you can be there for a week—if you are lucky,” he added.
He stressed that smoother cross-border trade is essential for the continent’s prosperity, urging governments to prioritise integration and remove unnecessary bottlenecks.
“Without this, there’s no way we are going to have a very prosperous Africa,” he said.
Dangote, who leads the Dangote Group, said his investments across the continent depend heavily on improved trade facilitation. The conglomerate operates in 17 African countries and has major interests in cement, fertiliser, and oil refining.
Its cement subsidiary, Dangote Cement, operates in 11 African countries and generated more than $3 billion in revenue in 2025, with plans to expand production capacity from 55.17 million tonnes to 80 million tonnes under a $1 billion investment programme.
The group also owns the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, one of the world’s largest single-train refineries, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day and expansion plans targeting about 1.4 million barrels per day.
In addition, Dangote Fertiliser is among the largest fertiliser plants in Africa, aimed at reducing import dependence and improving agricultural productivity across the continent.
He maintained that these large-scale investments can only deliver their full impact if Africa addresses long-standing barriers to trade and mobility.
“Free movement of people, free movement of goods and services, these are critical areas,” he said.
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