What We May Have Missed: Nigeria’s Former President Inaugurates Dangote's Oil Refinery Before Stepping Down

Written by Jesse Ogwu

In Nigeria's excitement at the inauguration of the new government, perhaps we missed an. important occasion, one that would change Nigeria's economy drastically. Three weeks ago, the former President, His Excellency Mohammadu Buhari made a step that makes its mark in Nigerian history. 

The former President, His Excellency  Mohammadu Buhari, had recently commissioned the Dangote Petroleum Refinery on the 23rd May, 2023. Present on the day of the inauguration were several high profile persons, present and past governors, government functionaries, parliamentarians. The event took place at the Free Zone, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State and is planned to kickstart July,2023.

Photo Credit: WikiMedia Commons 

The just inaugurated refinery covers a land area of approximately 2,635 hectares while the pipeline infrastructure at the Dangote’s petroleum refinery is the largest anywhere in the would with 1,100 kilometres to handle three billion standard cubic foot of gas per day. 

The petroleum refinery is estimated to a production capacity of 650,000 barrels of per day (BPD) and is also expected to meet with 100 per cent of Nigeria’s demand for all refined products. 

Years before the inauguration of the Dangote’s Petroleum Refinery and till recently, Nigeria economic machinery has been driven by crude oil(with no diversification), which is found in massive deposits in the Niger Delta area. But with the so high deposit of crude oil in the country, Nigeria is still tagged a country rich and blessed in oil but poor in oil refining. This has been because of the lack of operational oil refineries in the country which has caused a huge strain on the economy, forcing the country into industrial crisis and debt borrowing to cater for citizens’ needs. 

The inauguration of the Dangote’s oil refinery has undoubtably sprung hope in Nigerians as there is a strong belief that the refinery will stand the test of time compared to other refineries that have been in existence in Nigeria and even more importantly, be productive as his cement industry. 

There has been an aura of great positivism springing from the inauguration of the oil refinery. The former president, His Excellency Major Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd), notably said,at the inauguration of the refinery, that his regime had been deliberate about ensuring public-private partnership. Little wonder why so many efforts have been put into fruition in realising this particular goal, and more specifically, the Dangote’s oil refinery. 

With the Dangote’s Refinery set to begin operations in July ,2023, a lot of advantages have been forecast. 

In October 2022, Nigerias refineries lost 218 workers and a had a 69 billion Naira loss. The Dangote’s Refinery project is aimed at the creation of massive job opportunities in different fields of study ——— engineering, sciences, business administration/management, humanities, law and so much more! The project is aimed to generate 4,000 direct jobs and 145,000 indirect jobs. It will also lead to skills transfer and technology acquisition opportunities that will benefit the downstream sector.With these actualisation of this, without any iota of doubt, the standard living of Nigerians will increase and will cause a shoot up in economic growth of the country. 

Speaking at the inauguration, Aliko Dangote, the brain behind the oil refinery revealed that the refinery plans to export to 53 African countries which depend on other countries for petroleum products.In his words, he said: 

 It is our firm commitment that we will replicate in this sector what we have actually achieved in the cement and fertilizer markets, while Nigeria transformed from being the largest importer of these crude products to a net exporter...first goal is to ramp up projections of various production to ensure that within this year, we are able to fully satisfy our nation’s demand for higher quality products to enable us to eliminate the tragedy of import dependency and stop, once and for all, the dumping in our market of toxic substandard petroleum products

This above is a pace set already to be followed in the Nigeria petroleum market, and with this being actualised, there will be a U-turn in the Nigerian economic sector. 

 The refinery would also create a market for $1billion per annum of Nigeria crude and foreign exchange savings/earnings of $9.9bn. 

The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, in an interview with a special edition of London-based The Economists Magazine, titled ‘The World Ahead 2023,’ said with the commencement of operation at the refinery, Nigeria could save up to $10 billion in foreign exchange and generate another $10 billion in exports,in his words he said: 

The refinery’s completion will not only create direct and indirect jobs, but will also lead to skills transfer and technology acquisition opportunities that will benefit the downstream sector.

Moreover, the refinery’s production of critical products like naphtha and polypropylene will stimulate the development of other industries, such as cosmetics, plastics, and textiles. 

Refineries on this scale could save Nigeria up to $10 billion in foreign exchange and generate approximately $10 billion from exports.

Finally, the president of the African Development Bank (ADB), Akinwunmi Adesina, described the refinery as the best industrialised project that could happen to Africa and that it would positively impact the economic growth and development of the African continent. He stated: 

I see a company I will proudly call Africa’s growth accelerator company. With this project, we see an acceleration of how to reduce imports. We see acceleration on how to have an outbound on export, value chain development and how to compete regionally and globally.