Estimated at two billion dollars, the project will make it possible to produce fertilizers for West Africa from the resources present in the Togolese subsoil.

The Togolese government and Dangote Industries Limited, headed by the Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote, announced on November 7 the conclusion of a partnership to develop in Togo a sector for the transformation of phosphate into fertilizer.

This project revealed by Jeune Afrique Business +, whose investment cost is estimated at two billion dollars, will be assumed by the two partners. It should cover part of West Africa's phosphate fertilizer needs, and create several thousand direct jobs. Mine development work is expected to start before the end of 2019.

This agreement is based on the complementarity of the two parties. For its part, Togo is one of the leading producers of phosphate on the continent: the country holds more than two billion tonnes of phosphate in its subsoil.

Dangote and his strike force
The Dangote group, for its part, will be able to rely on its future ammonia and urea plant based in Ijebu-Lekki (Lagos), whose commissioning is announced in 2020.

"Ammonia is an essential ingredient in the transformation of phosphate into phosphate-derived fertilizers", explains Dangote's press release, which adds that "Togo will provide access to phosphate resources and the Dangote group will provide access to ammonia as well as the Nigerian market”.

Togo thus intends to benefit from the expertise and investment capacity of one of the largest African industrial groups, whose revenues were around 5 billion dollars in 2018. "By transforming our phosphate, we will not only create jobs, but we will also be able to provide our farmers with good quality fertilizers at an affordable cost,” said Togolese President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé.

"This partnership is part of our transformation agenda to create prosperity and strengthen economic development not only in Togo, but also in Africa," said Aliko Dangote.

His group also announced the establishment in Lomé of a cement production plant, the construction of which should start in the first quarter of 2020, for commissioning scheduled before the end of 2020. The investment is estimated at 60 million dollars and should create 500 direct jobs.

Projects in Congo-Brazzaville
In line with this investment in the fertilizer sector, the Nigerian businessman also met on August 21, 2019, with the President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso. The opportunity for Aliko Dangote, already present in the country with the Yamba cement plant – according to him the largest in Central Africa – to express his desire to develop other projects there.

“We are planning to make big investments in potash, phosphate and if possible ammonia like we did in Nigeria. We have confidence in the Congo. These are major industries that will create a lot of jobs and trade with the outside world,” he said, without giving further details.

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