No More Importation Of Petrol Once My Refinery Is Ready – Dangote

Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote
Group, has assured Nigerians that
when his refinery is ready, the
country would no longer need to
import petroleum products.
Speaking at the site of his refinery in
Lekki, Dangote said his refinery
would put an end to fertiliser
importation in Nigeria, transforming
the country into a net exporter of
refined crude and fertilizer.
“Today, Nigeria imports 100 percent
of its fertilizer, but when we finish,
Nigeria will be the largest exporter
of Urea and Ammonia in Africa,”
Dangote said.
“The refinery is the largest single
line in Africa and it will meet our
total domestic requirement and save
foreign exchange. “Thirty-eight per
cent of CBN’s foreign exchange is
spent on importation of petroleum
products. But we can serve the whole
West African market.”
Dangote said he had been working
with the government and the central
bank of Nigeria (CBN) in diversifying
the economy.
“We are going to serve the whole
domestic market in the next 10 years
and also export. We have actually
been doing this for a very long time
to diversify the economy.
“The government will lay down the
policies. The CBN will assist in terms
of long-term funding through the
banks and even directly now because
they have actually helped us quite a
lot. That is what we are now trying
to do.”
Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor,
who visited the Dangote free trade
zone, said the CBN would provide
the needed foreign exchange for the
refinery, adding that the refinery,
upon completion, would generate $6
billion dollars in foreign exchange
for Nigeria.
“Imagine what would happen to the
savings in foreign exchange by the
time the fertilizer plant is completed
in 2017 and by the time the refinery
and petrochemical plant is completed
during the early part of 2018. “We
expect that by the time these projects
are completed, they will not only
meet the needs of our domestic
requirements – by the time they are
completed, he (Dangote) will be
exporting these products to the point
where he will be selling foreign
exchange to Nigerians and CBN to
the tune of almost $6 billion yearly.
“That is the kind of project we think
we should support and we think that
we need to encourage more
Nigerians to begin to think like Aliko
Dangote.”
The Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), in its
world oil outlook for 2015 said
Dangote is responsible for nearly 50
percent of refinery projects in Africa
for the next five years. The refinery
is expected to cost about N2.8 trillion
and refine about 650,000 barrels of
crude oil per day.