Dangote Urges End to Medical Tourism, Pushes for Local Drug Production

Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has called on Nigerians to stop seeking medical treatment abroad and emphasized the need for the country to begin producing its own pharmaceutical drugs.

Speaking at the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers event held in Lagos on Wednesday, Dangote underscored the importance of developing Nigeria’s healthcare system to a level where even the wealthy can confidently receive treatment at home.

“What we need to do is to make sure we stop this health tourism and we should now get in to start producing our own drugs,” Dangote said during a panel discussion. “We should now make sure that when we are sick, we don’t have to travel abroad, all of us, but we need to do a partnership with Bill (Gates).”

He noted that previous collaborations between the Dangote Foundation and the Gates Foundation led to the eradication of polio in Nigeria and made significant strides in combating malnutrition.

Shifting to business, Dangote highlighted his group’s role in reversing Nigeria’s dependency on key imports. He recalled how Nigeria was once the world’s second-largest importer of cement, but now exports more cement than any other African nation. He also pointed to the success of his fertilizer business, noting that Nigeria now exports 37% of its fertilizer to the United States.

“In the past, farmers had difficulty accessing fertilizer,” he said. “Today, we’ve built the second-largest fertilizer plant in the world from scratch.”

On petroleum, Dangote said his refinery has achieved what no one else has in the sector, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. He revealed that the refinery exported 400,000 metric tons of petrol in May 2025 alone, marking the end of Nigeria’s reliance on imported petrol.

This year’s Goalkeepers event—hosted in Lagos for the first time by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—brought together global leaders, policymakers, and changemakers to review progress on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Other prominent attendees included Bill Gates, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Gombe State Governor Inuwa Yahaya.