The South-South Development Commission (SSDC) has deepened its strategic engagement with the Dangote Group following a two-day working session between the Managing Director, Ms. Usoro Akpabio, and the President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
The visit, which featured an extensive tour of the multi-billion-dollar Dangote Refinery, took place over the weekend in Lagos State.
Welcoming the delegation, Alhaji Dangote congratulated the Commission’s leadership on their appointments and reaffirmed his commitment to supporting economic development across the South-South region.
He announced that preparations are underway to establish the Group’s operational presence in the region.
He also expressed readiness to train more youths from the South-South region to acquire globally competitive technical expertise for high-skill jobs abroad, noting that such opportunities would help grow the economy through increased skills export and remittances.
According to Dangote, this expansion will significantly improve regional access to fertilizer, boost agricultural productivity, and strengthen the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) value chain in alignment with Nigeria’s clean-energy transition goals. He further noted that the Group will establish CNG cogeneration stations across the South-South region, ensuring broader energy access and deeper support for local industrial growth.
On the agricultural sector of the South-South region, Dangote stated that the Group will collaborate with the SSDC to empower farmers with soil-test-specific fertilizers to enhance crop quality for both consumption and export. Implementation is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2026, leveraging the high-tech petrochemical and fertilizer laboratory of Dangote Industries.
Dangote also commended the Nigerian engineers from the South-South region who were trained under the Presidential Amnesty Programme, noting that he had successfully engaged their expertise in previous projects. Describing them as exceptionally skilled, he affirmed his intention to deploy them again in the execution of upcoming expansion projects in the region.
In her remarks during the session, SSDC Managing Director, Ms. Usoro Akpabio , expressed the Commission’s readiness to collaborate closely with the Dangote Group.
She emphasized that the South-South remains Nigeria’s energy hub, maritime backbone, and industrial corridor, highlighting the Commission’s commitment to provide policy support and an enabling environment across the six states.
The Managing Director reiterated SSDC’s interest in partnering with the Group on refined product depots, coastal logistics bases, agricultural value-chain expansion, and youth-focused technical training through the Dangote Academy.
