Economist Bismarck Rewane has urged Nigerians to take advantage of the Dangote Refinery Initial Public Offering (IPO), saying investing in the company could provide greater long-term value than selling their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for short-term gains.
Speaking on the potential impact of the IPO, Rewane said the initiative could help deepen Nigeria’s investment culture by encouraging more Nigerians to become shareholders and participate directly in the country’s capital market.
“You are better off with your N5,000 share than selling your PVC for N10,000 or N15,000 and consuming it,” Rewane said.
He said the Dangote Refinery IPO could provide an opportunity to move Nigerians, particularly those at the lower end of the income scale, from short-term consumption towards long-term investment.
According to Rewane, the scale of participation being targeted by the IPO could represent a significant development for Nigeria’s investment landscape.
“The reality is that targeting 10 million investors is also a milestone,” he said.
Rewane noted that if 10 million Nigerians became shareholders in the Dangote Refinery, the company would have one of the largest shareholder bases in the world.
“If you can get 10 million shareholders to participate in the IPO, the Dangote Refinery will have the largest number of shareholders in the world,” he said.
He stressed that the significance of the IPO went beyond simply counting shareholders, arguing that widespread participation could help nurture an investment culture among Nigerians.
He contrasted investment with gambling and betting, noting that many Nigerians spend a considerable portion of their income on betting and other activities based largely on chance.
“The difference between a gambling act, a lottery act and an investment is that in one case, you are investing based on known parameters; in the other one, you are actually just gambling and taking a chance,” Rewane said.
The economist also described the potential participation of millions of Nigerians in the IPO as a form of economic democratisation.
“Therefore, you are democratising the market and economic process as distinct from democratizing the electoral process,” he said.
Rewane argued that investing in the refinery could allow Nigerians to become participants in the growth of a major Nigerian company rather than simply consumers of its products.
He also pointed to the scale of Dangote Refinery’s operations and its potential role in the African petroleum industry.
According to him, the refinery could become a major hub for refining and marketing petroleum products across Central and West Africa.
“So it is a compelling investment opportunity which puts revenue and profits and dividends into the pockets of consumers and investors, puts a lot of tax revenue in the pockets of the government,” he said.
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