President Akufo-Addo has congratulated Nigeria’s billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote, on the commissioning of the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Complex in Nigeria.
According to him, the establishment of the $20 billion complex is a feather in the cup of the African continent. He indicated that there is the need to support successful economies which depend largely on entrepreneurs running successful businesses.
“I have said it before that when we think of West Africa and Africa before our individual countries, we are not just being pan-Africanists, we are being true nationalists, because what makes West Africa, and, indeed Africa, better, will make each of our individual countries better and more prosperous.
“This spectacular project, the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Complex, does exactly that – makes West Africa better and stronger – and I congratulate this distinguished, patriotic son of Africa for the sheer brilliance of this initiative.
President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo further highlighted that there is the need to push vigorously, in West Africa, the culture of entrepreneurship, so that African economies can grow their economies and become prosperous.
“There is no greater symbol of entrepreneurship in the 21st century in West Africa, and, indeed, in Africa, than this iconic Nigerian entrepreneur, easily the equal of the celebrated entrepreneurs of our generation, such as Musk, Gates, Page, Bezos and Zuckerberg.”
President Akufo-Addo
On May 22, 2023, Nigeria commissioned the Dangote Refinery amid hopes of transforming the country into a net exporter of petroleum products, but analysts said securing crude supplies could delay achieving full production this year.
The administration of outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari reckoned the refinery as the answer to persistent fuel shortages in Nigeria, including most recently in the run-up to February’s disputed presidential election.
Nigeria spent $23.3bn last year on petroleum product imports and consumes around 33 million litres of petrol daily. The Dangote Refinery has a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
The plant plans to export the surplus petrol, turning Africa’s biggest oil producer into an export hub for petroleum products. It also plans to export diesel, according to Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, who funded the refinery’s construction.
Dangote refinery described as world’s largest singl-train refinery
The massive petrochemical complex, said to be the world’s largest single-train refinery, cost $19bn to build after being delayed for almost a decade – above initial estimates of between $12bn and $14bn – and has outstanding debt of around $2.75bn, according to Nigeria’s central bank governor.
The complex also has a 435-megawatt power station, a deep seaport and a fertiliser unit.
Dangote expects to begin refining crude in June, but London-based research consultancy Energy Aspects said that commissioning was an intricate process and that it expects operations to start later this year, reaching 50-70 percent next year, with a staggered process of other units into 2025.
The refinery needs a constant supply of crude, but Nigeria’s oil production has been declining due to oil theft, vandalism of pipelines and underinvestment. In April, production fell under one million barrels per day (bpd), below Angola’s output.
Lower production is expected to affect the ability of state-owned oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to fulfil an agreement to supply Dangote Refinery with 300,000 bpd of crude, said economist Kelvin Emmanuel, who authored a report on oil theft last year.
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