Dangote’s 650,000 Refinery will meet 100 per Nigeria’s fuel demand and enough for export, the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Lai Mohammed, has said.
Mohammed, who was on a visit to the Dangote Refinery, Petrochemical and Fertiliser complex at the weekend, said 60 per cent of the production of the petroleum refinery can meet the entire requirement of Nigeria’s fuel need, while the rest will go for export, generating huge amount of foreign exchange.
He said the refinery will be a game changer once it comes on stream in terms of employment generation, saying there will be huge value addition that will contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), conserve foreign exchange as there will be no more importation of petroleum products.
Mohammed said there would be generation of foreign exchange through export of finished products, as well as guaranteeing availability of petroleum products thus ending petrol queues and attracting foreign capital investments, adding that the refinery will meet the liquid products requirements, including gasoline (PMS), diesel (AGO), Kerosene (DPK)and Aviation Jet Fuel (Jet A-1).
Mohammed, who likened Aliko Dangote to one leading Nigeria’s industrial revolution, said the coming on stream of such massive industrial complexes as the Dangote Fertiliser Company and the Refinery were made possible by the enabling environment provided by the Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said: “Today, new businesses are springing up in all sectors, thanks to a conducive business environment. Under this Administration, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has implemented over 150 reforms, moving Nigeria up 39 places on the World Bank Doing Business index since 2016.
The President, he added, also signed the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA 2020) – Nigeria’s most significant business legislation in three decades.
“The result of this favourable business environment is the birth of new businesses such as the $2.5 billion Dangote Fertiliser Plant that will produce three million metric tonnes of Urea every year; the 650,000 barrels per day oil refinery due to open later this year; Lekki Deep Sea Port, one of the most modern sea ports in West Africa; BUA’s three million metric tonnes cement plant and the 5,000 barrels per day Modular Refinery in Ibigwe, Imo State, and three more modular refineries to be commissioned before May 2023 in Edo and Bayelsa states.”
Mohammed said before this Administration came into office in 2015, Nigeria had a fertilizer shortfall of about 3.5 million tonnes per annum, saying thanks to the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative launched by President Muhammadu Buhari, indigenous companies like Indorama, Notore and with the coming on stream of the Dangote Fertiliser Plant, Nigeria is now self-sufficient in the production of urea. In fact, Nigeria is now the leading producer of Urea in Africa,” he stated.
The minister was conducted on the guided tour by Devakumer V. G. Edwin, the Group Executive, Strategy, Portfolio Development and Capital Projects and Tony Chiejina, the Group Head of the Corporate Communications Department
