By Fawaz Balogun
Nigerians bought ₦5,250 worth of Dangote Refinery shares and, almost immediately, started acting like they had a seat at the board table. Suddenly everyone is a business partner with Aliko Dangote, a refinery to check on, and a board meeting to call. It’s the kind of financial moment only young Nigerians could turn into a national inside joke.
As if that is not enough, they make jokes and skits on it, going to stores to buy Dangote products. When it is time to pay, they call themselves business partners of Dangote, which means the products should be given to them freely.
In the real business world, even billion-dollar investors don’t demand that; they simply pay adequately for what they buy. Aliko Dangote would have to pay for anything he wants to buy from all his companies for example, the food he eats, the petrol or CNG his cars consume, the cement he uses for building his companies or houses, every bit of it. Otherwise, he would be taking value out of the business for personal use. In accounting, this is described as drawings and constitutes an expense to the company, reducing his profit.
Dangote launched its Petroleum IPO on Monday, September 14, 2026, and in less than a few hours, the subscription orders were reported to have totaled around ₦1.5 trillion, nearly 70% of the ₦2.15 trillion the company is targeting over its entire month-long window. There were reports that some investors sold some of their already-owned stocks just to buy Dangote’s and to have a share in the Dangote refinery.
Aliko Dangote, in one of his interviews about his plans for the IPO, made it known that the share is for everyone. He wants to empower the poor with the IPO rather than have it limited to the already rich. This means that, in the event of oversubscription, smaller investors could receive favourable consideration in the allocation process.
Stockbrokers were already confident that the IPO might be oversubscribed. However, until the IPO closes and the shares are formally allotted, those who have only submitted subscription orders should not yet describe themselves as shareholders and business partners of Dangote. It is after the allocation that they become shareholders, even though it is less than 0.1% of the company.
As every businessman thinks, and as businesses generally do, there is also the desire to make more profit. Even though he says that he wants to help the poor with the IPO, can that be justified? While we make a joke of everything as a way to get relief from all of the difficulties we might be facing, and while all we could think about is being the multi-billion-naira Dangote business partner, we might also look deeper into this: everybody wants to make money. The poor want to make money, and even Dangote still dey find money. One thing that everybody should note is that the poor or the average person can’t get wealthy through someone else’s business.
While we always want to be associated with great people in society, we must always think critically about this. For a stock to be a good investment for its holder, there has to be the possibility of capital appreciation and/or other returns, such as dividends, depending on the company’s performance and the terms of the investment. A rising share price can make a shareholder’s investment more valuable, which will allow for taking profit in the case of wanting to sell the share in the future. But a share price does not have to constantly go up for an investment to generate returns.
The Dangote IPO also raises an important question for its holders. They may find themselves thinking about two interests that can sometimes appear to pull in different directions: the desire for the value of their shares and the company’s profitability to increase, and the desire of consumers for the price of petrol and other commodities to come down.
A reduction in petrol prices can consequently contribute to a reduction in transportation and production costs and, potentially, the prices of some commodities in the market. Petroleum is an important commodity in Nigeria, and its price has significant effects across the economy. At the same time, lower petrol prices do not automatically mean lower profits for Dangote Refinery or a fall in the value of its shares. The company’s profitability depends on several factors, including its costs, sales volume, margins, efficiency and market conditions.
Therefore, the question is how a profitable company can continue to create value for its shareholders while operating in an industry whose products have a major effect on the cost of living. This is not to say individuals should not go ahead to get their shares from Dangote IPO; rather, they should understand what they are investing in and the factors that can affect the value of their investment, which Dangote has said is possibly a natural disaster.
Reports have it that some individuals who are already involved in the stock exchange market sold their previously held shares just to buy the Dangote IPO; this set of individuals should also look beyond the excitement surrounding the offering. A bird in the hand is sometimes better than thousands in the bush. The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) dropped by 1.05% in a single trading session, while market capitalization fell by about ₦1.67 trillion, from around ₦158.72 trillion to ₦157.05 trillion. Market operators linked part of the selling pressure to investors repositioning their portfolios ahead of the Dangote Refinery IPO, while profit-taking and other market factors also contributed to the decline.
The excitement surrounding the Dangote IPO is understandable, but investors must look beyond the jokes, the headlines and the promise of making money. Buying shares is not a shortcut to wealth, nor does it guarantee a profit. It means taking a stake in a business whose fortunes will depend on its performance and the wider market. So, before celebrating your new status as Dangote’s business partner, understand what you own, what you stand to gain and what you could lose. You may own a piece of the business, but that does not make you Aliko Dangote.
