Nigerians should act properly in considering participation in initial public offerings, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said.
He warned against selling one’s residential flat or using the school fees of one’s children to purchase shares, says Channels TV.
Sanusi addressed at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE IPO roadshow in Kano State, attended by investors, stockbrokers, representatives of banks, captains of industries, traditional rulers and potential shareholders.
“Don’t put your shares and take your children’s school fees. “Don’t sell your house that you live in and put in shares but what you can afford 10,000, 20,000, 30,000,” advised the monarch.
“Invest what you can afford to put aside for a period of time. If you look at the economic fundamentals over time you can be guaranteed that this investment will increase.
And you won’t regret it. And, frankly, people buy from all over the country. I speak as Emir of Kano; I want my people to be owners of this. “I don’t want us to be left behind in the capital market.”
But the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) asked the people of Kano to rally round their “son”.
“And I’m not talking about a guy who’s going to buy 5,000 shares and wants to sell tomorrow and thinks you get 10,000. No, I’m talking about you got some money, put it in, leave it there for a little bit and just watch your money grow,” he said.
Leave it alone for a while. Invest ₦10,000 today and you would be shocked in five years what it will be.
The ₦100,000 you invest will be So I would just advise all of us to try and start the process of owning, and if you’re going to own, you might as well buy in a firm that has the appropriate economic fundamentals, a company that is producing; you can see the assets on the ground.
“It is not surprising that Kano has produced leading entrepreneurs, as it is known to have people who have risk-taking, hard work and entrepreneurship in their blood,” Sanusi added.
“And that is why, beyond business, beyond profits, we have to thank Aliko for what he is in the Nigerian economy. “As governor of the Central Bank, one of my biggest and saddest problems was to see how every day, we would spend so much effort to earn foreign exchange from all sectors exporting crude oil, under-spend the same foreign exchange importing petroleum products.
“Instead of using that foreign exchange to develop agriculture, to develop infrastructure, to develop education, we would export crude oil and then turn around and import refined petroleum products and actually pay subsidy to keep refineries open in Europe, refineries open in Asia because we bought the petroleum products at markets.
“What Aliko has done is to disrupt a model that made Nigeria a market for import of refined petroleum products,” he stated.
“We don’t want someone to clean up our raw materials, take them to England and France, clean them up and sell them back to us at a profit. We don’t.” We should discover it here, and buy and sell to others,” the Emir remarked.
We have evolved from a country which is consuming its foreign exchange to import petroleum goods, to a country that is going to be earning foreign exchange from an exporter, not just of crude but of refined products.
The IPO, which started on September 14, 2026, comprises 4.1 billion new ordinary shares on offer at ₦525 per share with a minimum subscription of 10 shares valued at ₦5,250.
The offer is planned to remain open until 13 October 2026, subject to the terms and conditions of the prospectus.
The transaction is aimed for retail, institutional and eligible African investors and underscores the Dangote Refinery’s commitment to increasing ownership and encouraging participation in Nigeria’s capital market.
While speaking at the gong-sounding ceremony for the IPO at the trading floor of the NGX on Monday, President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote guaranteed the investing public that the refinery will be the most viable firm in Africa by the end of December 2026.
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