Swiss Schools, Millions of Dollars: Dangote publishes claims against Farouk Ahmed

Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has accused the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, of spending about $5 million on the secondary school education of his children in Switzerland.

Dangote made the allegation in a paid newspaper advert published on Tuesday, a day after he first accused Ahmed of paying millions of dollars to Swiss schools for his children’s education, an action he described as “economic sabotage and corruption.”

In the advert seen by Very Nigerian, the billionaire industrialist provided what he described as a detailed breakdown of the expenditure, naming four children, Faisal Farouk, Farouk Jr., Ashraf Farouk, and Farhana Farouk, as beneficiaries of the foreign education.

According to Dangote, the children attended several elite Swiss secondary schools over a period of six years, including Montreux School, Aiglon College, Institut Le Rosey, and La Garenne International School.

He estimated that the annual cost of tuition, airfare and upkeep per child stood at about $200,000, amounting to $800,000 yearly for the four children. Dangote further claimed that over six years, the combined cost of living expenses and air travel per child totalled $1.2 million, bringing the overall figure for the four children to approximately $4.8 million.

Based on these calculations, Dangote said the total cost of secondary education for Ahmed’s children was in the region of $5 million.

The businessman also extended his claims to the children’s tertiary education, stating that tuition, upkeep, airfare and related expenses averaged about $125,000 per year over a four-year period.

According to him, this translates to roughly $500,000 per child for four years, or about $2 million for all four children.

Dangote singled out one of the children, Faisal Farouk, noting that he completed an MBA programme at Harvard University in 2025.

“Faisal just finished 2025 Harvard MBA at $150,000 and $60,000 for upkeep, tickets and other incidentals. Total equals $210,000 spent in 2025 for Faisal’s MBA,” he stated.

Dangote argued that Nigerians deserve transparency, questioning the source of funds used by a public officer to finance such expensive foreign education.

He added that the alleged spending stands in sharp contrast to the realities faced by many families in Ahmed’s home state of Sokoto, where, according to him, numerous parents struggle to pay as little as N10,000 in school fees for their children.

As of the time of filing this report, Farouk Ahmed has not publicly responded to the allegations.

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