President of Dangote Group Aliko Dangote has said he plans to invest $10 billion in power in the coming years stating the group is considering redirecting capital from some planned businesses, including steel, into electricity generation and related power investments.
Announcing the plan in a recent interview, the billionaire said “In the next three, four years, there will be a major transformation in Africa. And that’s why we’re looking at power, for example.
“We are going to invest in power. We want to, actually there is one or two businesses that we might cancel, like steel, and we will put in the money. We want to invest over $10 billion alone in power.”
He further lamented the poor electricity supply prevalent across the continent noting “Over 600 million of our people to remain in darkness. You know, as some politicians, if they work hard, they have a plan, when you deliver power, you don’t need to go for campaign when you’re going for the election.
“It doesn’t make sense. So power is key. We will never, ever create growth without power, that’s why they say, power is growth.”
Dangote’s Power Sector Plans and Africa’s Power Deficit
The comments underline the increasing importance of electricity within Dangote Group’s broader Vision 2030 expansion strategy, which is focused on industrialisation, infrastructure and reducing Africa’s dependence on imported products.
The scale of the proposed power investment is significant in the context of Africa’s electricity deficit. The African Development Bank estimates that around 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity. The bank said in 2025 that it had committed $12.74 billion between 2016 and 2024 to electricity-access projects that connected more than 25 million people.
The continent’s electricity deficit is also widely regarded as an industrial constraint. The African Development Bank has described reliable energy supply as central to Africa’s economic prosperity, while its Desert-to-Power programme targets the development of 10,000 megawatts of solar power across 11 countries and aims to connect 250 million people to electricity.
Dangote’s proposed investment therefore comes as African governments and private-sector investors seek to close a substantial gap between the continent’s growing population and its available energy infrastructure.
