Government’s sustained effort to transform the economy and reposition Nigeria as the leading nation in Africa.
According to him, apart from ensuring a consistent supply of high-quality fuels for the transportation sector, the refinery will provide essential raw materials to a wide range of manufacturing sectors, including plastics, pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, packaging, construction, and more.
He further stated that the refinery’s operation and related businesses would generate a substantial number of job opportunities.
Dangote said the downstream supply and distribution of its products would significantly contribute to the absorption of labour, potentially benefiting hundreds of thousands of individuals.
”Once our plant is fully on stream, we expect that at least 40 per cent of the capacity will be available for export and this will result in significant foreign exchange inflows into the country.
“Overall, we are committed to operating our plant in line with international best practice requirements, recognising the importance of protecting the environment.
“And putting in place stringent environmental, health and safety policies to ensure that the Refinery operates in a safe and sustainable manner,” he said.
Also speaking, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, disclosed that outstanding debt by Dangote refinery has dropped appreciably from over $9 billion to $3 billion.
This was even as he said the CBN also partnered, as always, with the Dangote Group in ensuring the successful completion of the project by providing about N125 billion, to cover domestic currency requirements for the venture.
Emefiele said that the Dangote Group has started repaying some of the commercial loans even before the inauguration of the facility, saying this reflects the commercial capability of the Group and its Chairman.
“I must at this juncture appreciate all the participating local Nigerian banks, who did not only partner with the project through effective financing but were keenly aware of the importance of the project for our nation.
“They provided immense support and exceptional understanding, even when interest payments and principal repayment had fallen due,” he said.
Emefiele assured that under the incoming administration of Sen. Bola Tinubu, Nigeria would cease importing petroleum products, fertiliser and petrochemical that drained over US$26 billion in 2022.
According to him, the self-sufficiency in refined petroleum, urea, and polypropylene, which Nigeria has attained with the Dangote refinery is a strong testament to how leadership, dedication, focus, commitment, and resilience have helped Nigeria on its drive towards import substitution and export orientation.”
He added that the take-off of the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical factories came with numerous economic benefits to Nigeria.
“In the first instance, it will have enormous impact on job creation by generating thousands of direct jobs and millions of indirect jobs, with over 135,000 permanent jobs.
“I understand that, so far, there are nearly 4,000 Nigerian personnel on site, excluding employment by the various contractors and subcontractors at the project site.
“I am also proud to state that the project will generate up to 12,000 mw of electricity.
“In addition, the refinery and the other ancillary projects will have significant multiplier effects on other sectors of the economy by supporting a diverse range of sectoral value-chains,” he added.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the dignitaries at the inauguration are Presidents Gnassingbé Eyadéma of Togo, Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, Macky Sall of Senegal, Mohamed Bazoum of Niger Republic, and Mahamat Déby of Chad.
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