Our own business level that I keep saying is not just for us to go and make money. Our own is to say, okay fine, what are the needs of Africa? I can't say Nigeria really, you know, because we are in several countries in Africa and we don't want the prosperity to only be in Nigeria. So, what we are trying to do is to go to most of these African countries and show them, 'Hey guys, this thing is possible. Don't get scared. We have done it and we want to show you how to do it.' So, some of the entrepreneurs in various other African countries, we will encourage them. Most of these things that we believe they are impossible in Africa, they are very possible. And we will lead in making them possible.
Allow me for those strange people who don't know who you are. You are a Nigerian businessman, a philanthropist. The Dangote Group has today grown into one of the largest African diversified conglomerates. One of the most ambitious projects is the construction of a 650,000 barrels per day refinery, the largest in Africa, the sixth largest in the world, correct me if I'm wrong. And you give back. You are the founder of Aliko Dangote Foundation, the largest private foundation in sub-Saharan Africa. So, in a very short 15-minute fireside chat with me, I hope your audience will capture the essence of your important mission. So, let's get started with the first question related to what makes you busy right now. You recently said that the Dangote refinery is actively supplying not just Nigeria, but also West, Central, and even East Africa. Can Africa become energy independent and sovereign? That's my first question.
Well, thank you very much. No, well, Africa definitely will become self-sufficient. Maybe in the next couple of years, in about maybe by 2028. At the moment, we are not only serving Africa, we are serving... This is where the major suppliers of jet fuel to UK. Today, as we speak, you know, because you know, we also export to US gasoline. There's nothing that actually we, you know, we are not actually, you know, producing in terms of quality. So, we have 650,000, which we tested, we've been able to achieve out of our 661,000 barrels per day. And that's definitely way, way, you know, more than what the country can take, Nigeria. So, we serve this... In fact, during this crisis we've actually saved a lot of other African countries that they demanded for assistance and, you know, we help. And we're getting calls every day. And what we are doing really, we are giving African countries first choice. You know, yes, I know it's an open market. But this refinery we set up not to target any other market, but to target the African, you know, markets. So, what are we doing going forward, as you asked? We have a very, very ambitious, you know, program across all our businesses. We are looking at areas where we have lack of investment in Africa, you know, like infrastructure. We are building the deepest port, 18-meter draft. We are starting with 2 kilometers of, you know, key. And we are going to keep expanding. Our intention is to have the largest port in Africa. Today, the biggest issue that we have, especially in Nigeria where you know, we have critical minerals but we are not able to export these critical minerals because we don't have the infrastructure. There's no port. That, you know, when I say that there's no port, there's no capacity in the ports that we have. We have mainly Apapa, Tin Can two major ports of which they are congested. There's the third port opposite our refinery in Lekki. So, this port cannot handle... It only handles the new port only handles containers. So, what we are trying to do is to now open up the country by allowing people to now export all the source of minerals that they have. Even though the intention is for us to make sure we process our own minerals before export. And it is the reason that we are talking to countries like Zambia and other countries to do power. We are not in power, but we are generating a lot of this. Next years, we are going to add almost about 2,000 megawatts. We are now at about 1,500 megawatts. But going forward on the refinery, let me start. On the refinery we are taking the refinery to 1.4 million barrels per day. And that will make us... That will make us the largest, you know, refinery in the world, actually.
And what about the main challenges? You mentioned the infrastructure gaps. What about the...
Well, okay, fine. The infrastructure gap, we have already covered all that because we had to build a port. We had to do 10 lanes road, 100 and something kilometers to decongest the, you know, area. The only thing that we did not do there is the air we breathe. We didn't, you know, but... So, but we have actually, you know, we've done all the infrastructure. And that's why when you look this expansion that we have because for us to make the land habitable, we have to actually do the, you know, we have to remove... We have to debush the whole place. The place is 30 million square meters. So, it's not a small... This is huge.
And what about the skills? You...
Well, yeah, well, yeah, well 1,000 people, right? African people or... Well, total group wide, we have about 51,000 people now. Direct, we have 34,800 and something and then the rest, we know, you know, there are some countries the labor laws are very strict. So, what we do is that we have contractors that we subcontract to run those operations. So, you know, because we are not, you know, we don't want to be dealing with so many issues in terms of government policies. And cool. So, apart from that, we have challenges in polypropylene. We have about a million tons now. We are taking it to 2.5 million. And then we realized that there is a big shortage of fertilizer. When the Ukraine-Russian war started, you know, the chairman of African Union was President Macky Sall of Senegal. He had to go and beg Russia to see how we can get the... And since that we announced Dangote Group, we announced that, 'Look, that's what's in Barbados.' We announced that, 'No, it will never happen again.' So, we are doing 12 million tons of urea. And very soon in Congo-Brazzaville, we will start doing potash and phosphate. So, we want to go to 20, minimum 20 African countries.
We see that you are going to... Yeah, you are operating across the continent. What about the Africa free trade area that has been launched in '21? Does it help you support you these cross-continental efforts? How do you appreciate this initiative?
Well, now, we are operating, you know, based on regional markets. For example, I mean, a country like Ethiopia, they say, 'Okay, fine, we like, you know, fertilizer.' So, what do we do? And we are building 3 million tons there. Whether is enough or is too much, but they have other neighboring countries that they can actually assist. They found gas. So, we are doing that. The Africa free trade will work. But it can only work when the regional markets work. The regional markets was I mean, must work first before you really... because the dotted points, all these regional markets, if they are not working, you cannot have one single market. And you know, you have to also remember that there are a lot of international interests. I'm sorry to say this, intentional interests in not wanting to see Africa grow. And that's why, you know, for some of us we say that, you know, what is even our legacy? What do you want to leave behind? You know, what you want to do?
