ALIKO Dangote, chairman, Dangote Group, has said that the oil refinery his company is building in Nigeria would save the country some $15 billion by cutting its need for imported fuel. The refinery, which will have a nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, bpd, will produce more fuel than Nigeria itself can consume.

Nigeria currently relies on importation for nearly all of its fuel needs as the only refineries in the country run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, struggle to run at full capacity due to their age and years of neglect. Dangote said once the complex opens, which is targeted for 2019, it would more than meet Nigeria’s need for fuel production.

“We will be able to feed the entire West African market as well as the Central African market,” Dangote told Financial Times Africa Summit in London. The public conversation took place at Claridges in London.

He added that the refinery complex, which includes a fertilizer plant, would also produce roughly 1.3 million tonnes per year of petrochemicals polyethylene and polypropylene, materials that are used to make plastics. He attributed his patriotic resolve to self-sufficiency in commodity manufacturing through the strategy of backward integration as key to the success of his businesses.

He said the strategy has worked and is working and urged other African nations to do same to reduce the continent’s import. The forum was moderated by Lionel Barber,  editor-in-chief of Financial Times.

He reeled out statistics that compelled him to key into the strategy implemented by the federal government on the occasion attended by Vice-President Prof Yemi Osinbajo, Congolese presidential hopeful Moise Katumbi, and about 300 business leaders across the world. He said his ultimate ambition is to see an African nation that would stop import totally at the end.

Mastering detailed production statistics and highly-compelling demographics on promising sectors of the African economy, Dangote outlined the key to his success: self-sufficiency and backward integration, a manufacturing strategy that extracts value from entire processes. “We are not going to import anything any longer. In Nigeria we are learning how to produce the entire value chain,” he said. Once a heavy importer of fertilizer, Nigeria is now gearing up to produce three million tons of locally manufactured fertilizer, transforming the nation into one of the largest fertilizer exporters in Africa.

– Oct 12, 2017 @ 12:52 GMT /