Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has disclosed that its fuel refinery will commence operation in 2021.
Dangote disclosed this while addressing journalists at the end of the assessment tour of the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, yesterday. The project is an integrated complex made up of petroleum refinery, a fertilizer and power plants that will come on board in phases.
The urea fertilizer plant is expected to commence production in May this year. Dangote noted that the 650,000BPD-capacity refinery is a huge project and a jetty and pipeline is built to bring in the crude.
He commended the government for its support as well as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for generally bringing down interest rates to encourage other entrepreneurs to go into mega projects.
According to him, the business community in Nigeria should not wait for foreign investors to develop the nation’s economy but do it themselves.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said once the refinery is fully operational, Nigeria would become the largest exporter of refined petroleum products enough to serve the whole of Africa. Emefiele said:
“We need to thank Aliko Dangote for the determination and his large heart. This is not a project that an ordinary person could have ever contemplated.” He said the fertilizer plant would curb the scandals and importation associated with the product. Further speaking on the other projects, he said the refinery could reduce the price of crude oil and with Nigeria’s strategic location, it would serve the whole of Africa especially with the reduction of freight cost.
