VICE President Kashim Shettima has paid tribute to Africa’s richest man and Founder of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, describing him as the “greatest black man in the past 300 years”.
Shettima stated this while speaking at the Taraba International Investment Summit, tagged ‘Taravest,’ in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, on Wednesday.
Dangote was on Tuesday named on TIME Magazine’s inaugural TIME100 Philanthropy list, recognising the world’s most influential individuals shaping the future of charitable giving.
He is the only Nigerian featured on the prestigious 2025 list, which honours 100 philanthropists from 28 countries under four categories—Titans, Leaders, Trailblazers, and Innovators.
The Vice President, said, “I want to seek protocol and celebrate the greatest black man in the last 300 years, who single-handedly established the largest single train refinery in the world with the capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of oil per day, 67 percent of Nigeria’s refining capacity, occupying 2,635 hectares, larger that Victoria Island, employing 135,000 Nigerians and training 900 engineers abroad.”
Shettima also commended the businessman for demonstrating patriotism by establishing the refinery.
“He started this project in 2007,2008. If he had invested the $19 billion that it took him to set up the Dangote Refinery in Microsoft, in Amazon, in Google, he is going to be worth $120 billion now.
“But he decided to invest in his own country. Alhaji Aliko Dangote, we are mightily proud of you,” he added.
Dangote earned a spot among the 23 global figures recognised as Titans as he joined the ranks of Michael Bloomberg, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffett, and Melinda Gates.
It said, “Business magnate Aliko Dangote, founder, president, and CEO of the Dangote Group, built a net worth of $23.9 billion through cement, agriculture, and oil refining operations in Nigeria.
“His Aliko Dangote Foundation, which he endowed with $1.25 billion in 2014, aims to give back to the continent that facilitated his success, spending an average of $35 million a year on programmes across Africa.”
Speaking on his foundation’s focus, Dangote said, “Health, education, economic empowerment, disaster relief, and food—these are the five main things that any African nation needs.
“We need to create the next generation of African leaders. Investing in nutrition, health, education, and economic empowerment is our contribution to setting Africans up for success.”
The Dangote Group, in a statement released Tuesday, described the TIME recognition as a significant endorsement of its founder’s long-standing commitment to philanthropy and social development.