Naira may drop below ₦1,000/$1 before year-end — Otedola

Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has said he believes the Nigerian naira could trade below ₦1,000 to one US dollar before the end of the year.

He said this positive outlook is due to the progress made by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

Otedola shared his view on his X (formerly Twitter) account while congratulating Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, on the refinery reaching its full production capacity of 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

He said the refinery can now supply up to 75 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) daily.

According to him, this is a major turning point for Nigeria and Africa because it changes Nigeria’s energy situation.

Otedola explained that since Nigeria now refines fuel locally after many years of depending on imports, the pressure on foreign exchange will reduce. This, he said, should help strengthen the naira.

“With local refining now fully operational after decades of fuel imports, pressure on the foreign exchange market will reduce significantly. I believe the naira will gain strength, and trading below ₦1,000 to the dollar before the end of the year is possible,” he said.

He also revealed that Dangote has started another expansion project worth $12 billion. The project will increase the refinery’s capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day.

The expansion will also include the production of 2.4 million tonnes of polypropylene and 400,000 metric tonnes of Linear Alkyl Benzene, which is used in making detergents.

Otedola described the refinery’s progress as a major achievement for Nigeria’s economy and congratulated Dangote for what he called a historic milestone for the country.