Nigerian Billionaire, Aliko Dangote backtracks on plans to construct oil refinery plant in Tanzania
Both Presidents William Ruto of Kenya and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda managed to convince him that the Tanga port city of Tanzania should be the right destination for the envisaged oil refinery plant.
Black News 
Nigerian investor and Africa’s lading billionaire, Aliko Dangote, seems to be backtracking on his earlier proposal to build a giant oil refinery plant in Tanzania.
Dangote, who is currently attending the Africa Forward Summit 2026 in Nairobi, says he would rather have the oil refinery project established in Kenya instead.
A few weeks ago, Aliko Dangote held discussions with Presidents of Kenya and Uganda regarding his intention to construct a refinery plant in East Africa, similar to the one that his company operates in Lagos, Nigeria.
Both Presidents William Ruto of Kenya and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda managed to convince him that the Tanga port city of Tanzania should be the right destination for the envisaged oil refinery plant in East Africa.
However, during his recent visit to Tanzania, President William Ruto was met with questions asking him why he announced the proposed oil refinery plant intended for Tanga without authorities in Dar-es-salaam being aware.
To which Ruto responded by saying, if it was his wish he would have liked the factory to be built in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa, but realized that both countries, as well as Uganda would have benefitted more if the project would be established in Tanga, Tanzania.
But there is always the old adage which warns; “Be aware of what you wish for, because you may get it!”
And now both Kenya and Tanzania got what they wished for.
Tanzania, which became hostile because the project was announced in their absence, now can be happy that Dangote is planning to take it away from them.
Kenya, on the other hand, wished to have the refinery in Mombasa and Voila! Nigeria is handling it to them on a golden platter.
Aliko Dangote in his quest to make Africa self-reliant on the continent’s oil supplies is now looking at Kenya as the site of his proposed 650,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery.
It is an ambitious project that he intends to build in East Africa.
Dangote said in an interview with the Financial Times that he was leaning more towards the Mombasa City of Kenya as opposed to its neighboring Tanga in Tanzania.
“This is because Mombasa has a much larger, deeper port!” Dangote Maintained.
When 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 between US$15 billion and US$17 billion to build.
“But Kenyans consume more. The country has a bigger economy,” he said, adding that crude oil for the refinery could still 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.
“Still, the ball is in the hands of William Ruto,” Dangote said. “If the Kenyan President Ruto says it should be built in Tanga that is what I’ll do.”
