“Our people need jobs more than speeches.Dangote is from Kano. His grandfather Sanusi Dantata traded groundnuts in Kano market. His wealth started from Kano pyramids. Time to return home”.
BY ABDULBAKI IBRAHIM
RIDER: $1.5bn for Kenya pipeline, $16bn refinery in Lamu, $50bn Africa plan — yet North West, his birthplace, his biggest market and Nigeria’s poorest zone with 35 million people, has no depot, no factory, no academy. Where is our pipeline?
Dateline: Dutse — The whisper that will not die
In Limawa Ward, Dutse — 15 polling units PDP won in 2023 — Hajia Ladi sells beans. She has three stoves: one for beans, one for firewood, one for tears.
She whispered to me last Tuesday: “We are all APC now. Not because Namadi gave us money. Because he comes without siren. He asked about my granddaughter’s school. But we still cook with firewood. When will Dangote’s gas reach my stove?”
That whisper is louder than London summit.
On Oct 21 in London, Aliko Dangote told Financial Times Africa Summit: “We bought 25% of Kenya pipeline for $335m. We will invest $1.5bn more to expand it. We are building 700,000 bpd refinery in Lamu for $16bn.”
Oct 19, Djibouti: groundbreaking 375,000 cubic meters storage, 5 million tonnes per year.
Namibia: depot for Botswana, South Africa.
Ethiopia: pipeline Damerjog, Djibouti to Dewele.
All good. Pan-African vision. I commend it.
But in Kano markets people ask: Where is North West pipeline?
North West has 7 states — Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Jigawa — 35 million people. 60% of Nigeria’s grain. 70% of out-of-school children. Poorest zone according to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Highest child stunting according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders). Lowest water access according to Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS).
Yet we have no Dangote depot. No LPG terminal. No skills academy. No 1,000MW power plant like Lamu.
We buy your cement at N10,000. Your petrol at N1,000. Your spaghetti at N1,500. Our trucks carry your goods from Lagos to Illela every day. Bandits collect tax on that road — N20,000 per truck in Birnin Gwari.
If you can build pipeline in Kenya 1,342km, you can build pipeline Kano-Katsina-Maradi.
If you can build refinery in Lamu for Kenya, you can build refinery in Kano for Niger Republic.
If you can store 5 million tonnes in Djibouti, you can store 1 million tonnes in Jigawa for food security.
The Data War:
Kenya deal: $335m + $1.5bn = $1.835bn for 13.5 million people. North West market: 35 million people = zero pipeline.
Dangote trucks: 4,000 trucks daily Lagos-Kano. One Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion saves N40,000 per trip. That is N160m daily, N58bn yearly left in North West pockets. Bigger than Jigawa IGR.
We the people of North West should demand from Dangote Group:
- Dangote North West Energy Hub in Kano —* 200,000 cubic meters petroleum storage, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottling plant to end firewood, CNG conversion centre for 5 million tricycles.
- Dangote Agro-Industrial Park in Jigawa-Kebbi corridor —* Rice mill 1 million tonnes, tomato paste, animal feed, with guaranteed offtake for our farmers. Not just buying paddy, but building factory.
- Dangote Skills and Refinery Academy in Kaduna —* Kaduna Refinery is dead — 110,000 bpd (barrels per day) idle since 2018. Turn its land into training centre for welders, pipeline fitters, refinery operators. Our youth are in bandit camps because they have no skills.
- 1,000 Trucks CNG Conversion for North West Transport Union —* Reduce transport cost Sokoto-Lagos from N80,000 to N40,000. That is how you fight poverty, not by sharing rice in stadium.
- Water, Not Just Fuel —* Partner North West Development Commission (NWDC) to drill 7,000 solar boreholes — 1,000 per state. According to UNDP, our children walk 5km for water in Sokoto. You drilled for oil in Kogi, you can drill for water in Zamfara.
Dangote said in London: “Allowing imports to displace local production means we are exporting our jobs out and importing poverty.” Exactly. North West is importing poverty because we have no local production.
At last Saturday’s flag off of the APC Presidential Campaign, a PRP Chieftain, Wakili, advised the seven governors from the North West — Uba Sani, Abba Yusuf, Dikko Radda, Nasir Idris, Umar Namadi, Ahmad Aliyu, Dauda Lawal to tell the truth that North West is bleeding.
Wakili told them: Don’t waste the flag off campaign with praise singing, tell truth that North West is bleeding. The truth is: We cannot be the market without being the factory.
Kenya got $1.5bn because President Ruto supported Dangote. Will our seven governors jointly write one letter to Dangote with one demand?
In Mada, bandits ate bandits — 40 killed.
In Gummi, villagers ate bandits — 30 killed in Birnin Tudu when villagers refused displacement.
5 Sheikhs still in den 41 days after praying for Tinubu.
Our people need jobs more than speeches.Dangote is from Kano. His grandfather Sanusi Dantata traded groundnuts in Kano market. His wealth started from Kano pyramids. Time to return home.
We demand our pipeline.
Will he answer before 2027, or will North West remain the market that never becomes factory?
…Alhaji Abdulbaki Ibrahim, a public affairs analyst, is based in Kano.
