Businessman Aliko Dangote has revealed some of the major challenges he encountered while securing land for the construction of his refinery, including significant financial costs and extensive land reclamation work.
According to Dangote, he initially obtained a bank loan to acquire land for the project, but after his request reportedly failed to receive approval from the Ogun State Government, he had to repay the loan with interest.
He later purchased land in Lagos for $100 million, only to discover that the site was marshy and required extensive reclamation before construction could begin.
“The biggest challenge was getting land for the refinery. I took a bank loan, but Ogun’s governor denied me approval, so I paid the bank with interest. I bought land in Lagos for $100M, not knowing it was marshy. We pumped 65M tons of sand to raise it.”»
Dangote said the huge quantity of sand was used to reclaim and raise the site, highlighting the scale of the engineering work required before the refinery could be constructed.
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