The long-awaited Dangote Refinery was commissioned yesterday, Monday, May 23, 2023 by President Muhammadu Buhari amidst fanfare.
With an investment of $18.5 billion, the refinery is expected to revolutionise Nigeria’s economy and alter the course of history.
The refinery, which is located in Lekki, Lagos state, can process 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day and produce a range of refined petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, and liquefied petroleum gas.
This will significantly reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported fuel products and save the country billions of dollars in foreign exchange earnings.
Buhari acknowledged that Nigeria’s economy had faced significant challenges over the years, including infrastructure deficit, insurgency and external shocks from the global financial crisis, oil price collapses, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
“The consequences of these challenges constitute severe strain on our economy limiting the government’s ability to provide basic infrastructure without resorting to huge borrowing,” he said.
He applauded the founder of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote for his commitment to transforming the country’s economy, adding that the active participation of the private sector, and a strong commitment to public-private partnership (PPP) have aided the economic growth.
Buhari was hopeful that the incoming administration would continue to apply such innovative skills in partnership with private sectors to accelerate the provision of critical infrastructure.
“We must create necessary conditions for our private sector to grow and partner with the public sector to accelerate economic growth across the continent. We must not allow outside powers to use some of our leaders to destabilise our economic and political trajectory,” he said.
The mega project which is completely off the grid, is supported by a 435 megawatt (MW) independent power plant (IPP) – enough to power the five states under the Ibadan electricity distribution company (IBEDC), which are Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Kwara and some part of Ekiti.
The Dangote Refinery IPP is about 15 per cent of the average power generated on the national grid.
The brain behind the project, Alhaji Aliko Dangote said the investment would have stalled without the CBN’s timely intervention.
He disclosed that the huge investment was prompted by his desire to support and contribute to Nigeria by transforming the economy and properly positioning the country as a leading nation in Africa.
According to him, the plant will meet 100 per cent of the Nigerian consumption need of all refined products (gasoline, 53 million litres per day; diesel, 34 million litres per day; kerosene, 10 million litres per day, and aviation jet, two million litres per day) and has a surplus of each of these products for export.
He disclosed that 80 per cent of the production can also be discharged through trucks across the country with the first production of the refinery made available by August 2023.
Dangote revealed that once the plant is fully on stream, at least 40 per cent of the capacity will be available for exports, resulting in significant FX.
Speaking on the benefits of the refinery to the country, he said: “The refinery will make available vital raw materials for a wide range of manufacturers in the plastic, pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, construction and other industries with massive job opportunities.”
He further stated that the refinery’s operation and related businesses would generate a substantial number of job opportunities, while the downstream supply and distribution of its products would significantly contribute to the absorption of labor, potentially benefiting hundreds of thousands of individuals.
He pledged that the sector would be replicated with the achievement in the cement and fertilizer market, ensuring that it is run at the highest capacity and efficiency to enable competitive export to other markets, especially in wider regions where 53 out of 55 countries are dependent on imports to meet their petroleum product demand.
Also, the Managing Director of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, said the inauguration of the plant provided the potential for domestic security in the country, and assured that the company would continue to support investments in domestic refining to satisfy growing demands.
It has been estimated that the refinery would add about $21 billion (N9.7 trillion at the current exchange rate) yearly to the Nigerian economy.
The facility has 177 tanks with a 4.742 billion-litre capacity, while the temporary housing units on the premises could shelter 33,000 persons.
Sitting on 2,635 hectares of land located in Dangote Industries Free Zone in Ibeju-Lekki, and will employ over 100,000 persons.
