The announcements, made on Thursday, represent the most ambitious single expansion in the history of Africa’s fertiliser industry and are designed to sharply boost food security, raise farm productivity, and position the continent as a major player in the global fertiliser market.

In Nigeria, the existing Dangote Fertiliser plant in Lekki, Lagos, already Africa’s largest with two operating trains producing 3 million tonnes of urea annually will add four new trains under the expansion programme, making it one of the world’s biggest single-site urea complexes.

At the same time, the group recently broke ground on a greenfield 3 million-tonne-per-year urea plant in Gode, Ethiopia, further extending its pan-African footprint.

To deliver the projects to the highest global standards, Dangote has signed binding agreements with four specialist partners:Topsoe (Denmark) – ammonia technology licensing and full process design for all six new ammonia plants (four in Nigeria, two in Ethiopia).   

Saipem (Italy) – urea synthesis and melt technology licensing plus complete process design packages for all six urea units.   

thyssenkrupp Uhde Fertilizer Technology (Germany) – urea granulation technology licensing and full granulation design packages for the six plants.   

Engineers India Limited – appointed as project management consultant (PMC) and EPCM consultant for the four new Nigerian trains at the Lekki Free Zone. 

President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, described the partnerships as a decisive milestone in the company’s mission to transform African agriculture.

“These collaborations bring together the best technologies and expertise in the world to deliver efficient, environmentally responsible plants that will serve farmers across Africa and beyond for decades,” the group said in a statement.

The expanded facilities are expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs, strengthen agricultural value chains, and significantly reduce Africa’s dependence on imported fertilisers while opening new export opportunities.

Dangote Fertiliser reaffirmed its commitment to “building resilient industrial capacity that supports national development priorities and drives long-term prosperity across the continent.”  

Construction on the Nigerian expansion trains has already commenced, with the first new units targeted for commissioning within the next 36–48 months.