18th May, 2024
Aliko Dangote, the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has there will ne no need to import refined petrol products into Nigeria from June 2024 when his refinery located in Lagos will begin to produce the product.
Though Nigeria is a leading crude oil producer, the country has relied on refined products for its local consumption.
Speaking as a panelist at the Africa CEO Forum Annual Summit in Kigali on Friday, Dangote said his refinery located in Lagos will help to end the practice of exporting raw materials and importing finished products not only in Nigeria but across the continent.
The businessman noted that the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery was commissioned in February and is now producing jet fuel and diesel.
The Africa’s richest businessman added that by next month, the refinery will be producing refined petroleum product in a quantity that will be far beyond what can be locally consumed in Nigeria.
“What that would do is that we would be taking most of the African crude that is being produced and also be able to supply not only Nigeria, because our capacity is too big for Nigeria, but it would also supply West Africa, Central Africa and also South Africa.
“We have 650,000 barrels per day, 1 million tonnes of polypropylene, we have 590,000 carbon black, that is the raw materials ink, dyes and co. We are expanding more. This is the first phase and we are going out to the next phase which will start early next year.
He added that the refinery also has the capacity to meet the diesel and petrol needs of West Africa and the aviation fuel demand of the entire African continent.
“Right now, Nigeria has no cause to import anything apart from gasoline and by sometime in June, within the next four or five weeks, Nigeria shouldn’t import anything like gasoline; not one drop of a litre,” he declared.
“We have enough gasoline to give to at least the entire West Africa, diesel to give to West Africa and Central Africa. We have enough aviation fuel to give to the entire continent and also export some to Brazil and Mexico,” he said.
“Today, our polypropylene and our polyethene will meet the entire demand of Africa and we are doing base oil, which is like engine oil, we are doing linear benzyl, which is raw material to produce detergent. We have 1.4 billion people in the population, nobody is producing that in Africa.
“So, all the raw materials for our detergents are imported. We are producing that raw material to make Africa self-sufficient.
“As I said, give us three or a maximum of four years and Africa will not, I repeat, not import any more fertilizer from anywhere. We will make Africa self-sufficient in potash, phosphate, and urea, we are at three million tonnes and in the next twenty months, we will be at six million tonnes of urea which is the entire capacity of Egypt. We are getting there.”
“For some of us, despite the boom of the capital market of the US, you know, Google, Microsoft and the rest, we didn’t participate, we took all our money and invested in Africa.
“We had this dream, just about five years ago and we said we want to move from five billion (dollars) revenue to thirty billion revenue and we made it happen. It is possible and now we have made it happen and now we have finished our refinery.
“Our refinery is quite big, it is something that we believe that Africa needs. If you look at the whole continent, there are only two countries that don’t import petroleum products which is a tragedy. They are only Algeria and Libya. The rest are all importers. So, we need to change and make sure that we don’t just go and produce raw materials, we should also produce finished products and create jobs.