I had never heard of Lamu before, Dangote says

Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that he never knew anything about Lamu County which will become home to a Sh2 trillion oil refinery project undertaken by his company, Dangote Group, and the Kenyan government.

In an interview, Dangote said that he only heard about Lamu in January 2026 after his team visited the county and also in April during discussions with President William Ruto on setting up a fertilizer supply in Kenya.

He revealed that the location of the project was a discussion between Kenya’s Mombasa and Tanga in Tanzania before Lamu came into the picture.

Tanga was a good location considering the pipeline carrying Uganda’s crude adding that a refinery does not need to be where crude is citing the likes of India and Singapore that he said own big refineries but the countries do not produce any oil.

After discussions with Ruto and visits by his team Dangote said that Lamu offered adequate land for the planned development, water and sufficient sea depth to accommodate ships carrying crude.

“When you go to Lamu, you will see that it is totally different. It will have more activities than any industrial centre in Kenya,” he said.

According to the billionaire the refinery could become the beginning of a much larger industrial complex in Lamu, adding that he expected significant activity in the area once the project is completed within the next four years.

Dangote said that the refinery will produce jet fuel, diesel and petrol which are commonly used in the country.

He added that they will also supply raw materials to the plastics industry and other manufacturers within the East African region.

“We are not only supplying jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline, which is PMS that you use in your car. We are also supplying the plastic industries,” Dangote said during an interview with Citizen TV.

Dangote said that they will try to accommodate more people by giving up more shares for sale adding that Kenya and Botswana could offer what they are looking for but will also look within and outside Africa.

“Kenya will start producing crude very soon. Uganda is going to start very soon, and other neighbouring countries too in East Africa will start producing their own crude,” he said during an interview with NTV.

He said that he was looking forward to the listing of the refinery at the Nairobi Stoke Exchange which he said will open up opportunities for more investments.

Dangote said that the refinery will source crude from East African countries producing it as the first priority and then from Middle East and other oil producing countries.

According to Dangote, there are plans in place for the production of electricity which he said would go on to address Africa's power deficit.

He said that inadequate electricity remains one of the factors slowing industrial growth in Africa and that his company would pump in some Sh2 trillion for the same.

No future plans, Dangote said that his company was looking to expand to fertilizer production and sale while not ruling out the possibility of cement production.

He had tried to set up a cement factory in Kenya before but pulled out after he was allegedly asked to pay a bribe.

“We are a publicly listed company and if we pay bribes we might end up in jail,” he said while adding that he would not name the actors involved as he did not want to spoil anyone’s name.