NIGERIA PRESIDENT COMMISSION US$2.5B DANGOTE FERTILIZER PLANT

Nigeria President, Muhammadu Buhari has commissioned the just completed US$2.5billion Dangote fertilizer plant that is expected to house a capacity of 3 million metric tonnes per annum in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos.

The ceremony had the presence of dignitaries including Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Industries Limited, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele, and Minister of Trade and Investment Niyi Adebayo.

According to reports, the facility proposed to be the biggest in Africa, and maybe the world will be combined with a 650,000 barrels per day oil refinery standing within its vicinity. Both facilities are expected to cost Africa’s richest man $17.5 billion.

Speaking during the ceremony, President Buhari said “The fertilizer plant we are commissioning today can provide multiplier effects on our economy, including job creation, which is a key goal of my administration. The nation also stands to gain extensively in earnings of foreign exchange from the excess production of the plant. I am informed that we have already started exporting to USA, Brazil, and India.

“The coming on stream of the plant is creating huge opportunities in the areas of employment, trade, warehousing, transport, and logistics. This will drastically create wealth, reduce poverty and secure the future of our nation.

“The coming on stream of the plant is creating huge opportunities in the areas of employment, trade, warehousing, transport, and logistics. This will drastically create wealth, reduce poverty and secure the future of our nation.

“In the agricultural sector, another focal point of our economic policy, we expect a boom as fertilizer is now readily available. Many Nigerians who hitherto practiced subsistence farming because of the non-availability of necessary inputs can now take up agriculture as a business. We expect a rise of a new breed of agropreneurs who will add value to farming, and make the nation self-sufficient in food production.”

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Emefiele described the commissioning as an “emotional” one for himself and the bank.

He added: “I am delighted, extremely elated indeed that a Nigerian in the person of Alhaji Aliko Dangote has taken not just this great initiative of helping to solve a perennial petrochemical imports problem, but has taken advantage of the emerging huge market opportunity presented by recent developments.”

Emefiele further described the event as a “stellar” realization of President Buhari’s vision and timely in the light of the war in Europe.

He added: “This fertilizer plant is timely when one considers recent developments in global markets where prices of wheat, fertilizer, and crude oil spiked by over 30 percent following the Russia -Ukraine war, in addition to the lessons we learned from the protectionist actions of countries during the early days of Covid-19.”

Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the Lekki Free Trade Zone LFTZ was conceived by former Governor Bola Tinubu in 2003 to attract investments to the State.

He said the LFTZ Is also hosts the 650,000BPD Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant and the Lekki Deep Sea Port within the same axis, making it a prime investment destination.

The plant comes as a piece of great news to the country as it is reported that Nigeria’s average fertilizer application of 20kg/ha, is regarded as the lowest in Africa. This has made the country lags behind some other African countries, including South Africa and Egypt.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s fertilizer application is only 20%, a situation that is blamed on the fact that over 80% of fertilizers consumed in Nigeria are imported, a gap the Dangote fertilizer plant is expected to bridge.

It is also reported that the new plant will add well over US$400 million in foreign exchange into the Nigerian economy from the exportation of the products to other African countries.

SOURCE: The Nation