President Ruto Praises Dangote for Ending Nigeria Fuel Queues

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s President William Ruto has praised Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote for ending decades of fuel scarcity in Nigeria, a country blessed with vast oil resources but long plagued by shortages.

Speaking on Wednesday at an infrastructure summit in Nairobi, Ruto highlighted the Dangote Refinery in Lagos as a shining example of African ingenuity solving continental problems.

“Nigeria has been a producer of oil for all the years that we know. Yet, when you went to Nigeria, there were queues of people looking for fuel in petrol stations for a long time. Until one African stepped forward and built a refinery, Aliko Dangote,” Ruto said.

The Kenyan leader used the Nigerian experience to push for an East African refinery modelled after the Lagos facility, arguing that Africa has the human and financial capacity to tackle its own energy challenges without relying on Europe or Asia.

“The solution wasn’t in Europe or Asia. The solution was in Nigeria for a problem that disturbed Nigeria for years,” he added.

Ruto urged political leaders, industrialists, and financiers at the summit to act swiftly, stressing that the continent possesses the necessary resources and talent to drive transformation.

Dangote, who attended the event, pledged his support for the proposed East African refinery, provided that regional governments fully commit to the project.

For years, Nigeria’s state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna suffered repeated failures despite promises of rehabilitation by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

Private sector intervention through the Dangote Refinery has since stepped in to address the gap left by underperforming public facilities.

However, fuel supply and pricing challenges persist in Nigeria, with many citizens still grappling with high pump prices even after the refinery began operations.

NaijaChoice News understands that Ruto’s remarks underscore growing calls for intra-African collaboration in critical infrastructure projects.

The endorsement of the Dangote model signals a potential shift towards homegrown solutions that could reshape energy security across the continent.