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Dangote says waiting for President Ruto to begin work on $17bn Kenyan refinery

Dangote said, he would need Ruto to offer land, some east African finance and, most important, protection from what he called dumping of cheap fuel from the likes of Russia or India.

Published

2 months ago

May 11, 2026

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• Ruto, and Dangote

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest industrialist, has stated that he is eyeing Kenya as the site of a huge $17 billion 650,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery he plans to build in east Africa, after questions over a previous push to build the facility in Tanzania.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan last week complained angrily to her Kenyan counterpart William Ruto that she had not been consulted over the earlier plan to build it on her country’s coastline, which was announced in her absence last month at an infrastructure summit.

“I’m leaning more towards Mombasa because Mombasa has a much larger, deeper port,” he told Financial Times in an interview.

He compared Kenya’s port to Tanga, the proposed Tanzanian site for the refinery to process oil from Uganda and the open market.

Dangote estimated it would cost $15 billion to $17 billion to build.“Kenyans consume more.

It’s a bigger economy,” he said, adding that crude oil for the refinery could be transported by ship and need not be located near a pipeline that will carry oil nearly 1,500 kilometres from Ugandan oilfields to the Tanzanian coast at Tanga.“The ball is in the hands of President Ruto,” he said.

“Whatever President Ruto says is what I’ll do,” the Nigerian billionaire added. For the east African refinery to get off the ground, Dangote said, he would need Ruto to offer land, some east African finance and, most important, protection from what he called dumping of cheap fuel from the likes of Russia or India.

“There is no refinery in the world that can survive without that protection,” he said. “If we have an agreement, we can start this year,” he explained. He told the FT he could still build the refinery in Tanzania “if they are able to sort themselves out”.

Related Topics:Dangote Kenya refinery Featured

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Cardoso Urges Banks To Lend Out Idle Funds With CBN * Retains MPR at 26.5%

Cardoso made the call on Tuesday after the 306th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja from July 20 to July 21.

Published

13 hours ago

July 21, 2026

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Olayemi Cardoso , urged banks from keeping idle funds with the apex bank and encouraging increased lending into the economy.

Cardoso made the call on Tuesday after the 306th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja from July 20 to July 21.

The apex bank retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), also known as benchmark interest rate, at 26. 5 percent.

This decision marks the second consecutive retention of the MPR at 26.5 per cent, following a 50-basis-point reduction in February from 27 per cent.

“The committee’s decision to maintain the current policy stand follows a thorough assessment of the balance of risk,” said Cardoso.

He emphasised that although headline inflation moderated marginally in June 2026, global uncertainties have heightened due mainly to the renewed hostilities in the Middle East.

The MPC also adjusted the asymmetric facilities corridor around the MPR to +50/-450 basis points—a move aimed at discouraging banks from keeping idle fund with CBN.

Furthermore, the committee maintained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks at 45 per cent, retained the rate for merchant banks at 16 per cent, and kept the CRR on non-TSA public-sector deposits at 75 per cent for liquidity management considerations.

Cardoso said despite the global uncertainties, the Nigerian economy has “remained largely resilient to the external shocks”.

Business

CBN admits it opened domiciliary accounts for PFIPC agency

Represented by the Director of its Banking Services Department, Hamisu Ibrahim, the CBN said that the accounts are one in US dollars, the other in British pounds sterling, were opened following a mandate received from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Published

22 hours ago

July 21, 2026

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File photo : PFIPC agency DG, Adeniyi Adeyemi

The Central Bank of Nigeria had admitted that it opened two foreign-currency domiciliary accounts for the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).

The apex bank made the confirmation, yesterday, during the public hearing convened at the National Assembly Complex by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the existence and operations of the PFIPC, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi and inaugurated by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.

He explained that on July 30, 2025, CBN received a mandate dated July 29, 2025 from the Office of the Accountant-General.

“We received the mandate to authorise two accounts, one a US dollar domiciliary account, the other a pound domiciliary account, for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council,” Ibrahim told the committee.

He explained the CBN’s verification process, “The process of opening an account requires a mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

“Once we receive that mandate, we perform all the necessary verifications to confirm that this mandate is actually coming from that office.

The department that handles the mandate is different from the department that actually does the account opening,” he said.

Nevertheless, he noted that no one came to activate the accounts after they were opened.“We did not receive any correspondence, mandate, signature or mandate cards. We were not introduced to the authorising or approving officers.“Based on that, those accounts remain inactive, with zero balance. There have been no foreign exchange allocations.