The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, said the Dangote Oil Refinery is expected to generate 12,000 megawatts of electricity and over 135,000 permanent jobs.
Emefiele said this on Monday at the official launching of the Dangote Oil Refinery in Lagos State by President Muhammadu Buhari.
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“Then, we insisted that under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, that the ongoing projects and efforts will be actively implemented to diversify the economy and make the country globally competitive but people still doubted us,” he said.
“Aside from enumerating our strategic efforts in agriculture and other critical sectors, selling projects that we highlighted to our foreign investor community was this project, the refinery. Your Excellency, they doubted us.
“They doubted our willpower to succeed with this project. In hindsight, Your Excellency, I would appreciate their skepticism because they do not understand how a single individual, a man like Dangote could build a refinery capable of serving an entire nation and continent.
“I’m glad to say that this project comes with numerous economic benefits to Nigerians as in the first instance, it will generate 1000s of direct jobs of over 135,000 permanent jobs.
“I am also proud to say that about 12,000 megawatts of electricity would be generated.”
Also according to Emefiele, the project is interior with significant savings in terms of foreign exchange and in easing the fiscal body of the federal government available data.
He said that it will also save Nigeria $25b and $30b forex annually and give the economy an inflow of $10b yearly.
Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said that Dangote came to Lagos with nothing 45 years ago but has now built the biggest empire in the world for Africa.
“Dangote came to Lagos with nothing about 45 years ago, but he is now Africa’s richest man,” Sanwo-Olu jocularly said in his speech.
He described Dangote as a detribalised man who saw the wealth of the state, adding that the highly successful businessman is a Lagosian who has invested in the prosperity of the state and Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the chairman and CEO of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said his first goal is to ramp up production of the various products to ensure that within this year, they are able to fully satisfy the nation’s demand for quality products.
“There will be constant availability of high-quality fuels for our transportation sector, the refinery will also make available to our industries vital raw materials for wide range of manufacturing,” he said.
“Our Group’s corporate vision is driven by our mission to produce what we consume and to promote self-sufficiency in the basic needs of our people.
“We decided on a plant designed with state-of-the-art technology and a scale in a capacity that will be a game-changer in Africa and the global market.”
The Dangote oil and petrochemical refinery is a 650,000 Barrel-Per-Day (BPD) oil refinery. It is the largest single train oil refinery on planet earth, the largest in Africa, the 7th largest oil refinery in the world.
It is capable of meeting the energy demands for both Nigeria and Africa, according to Dangote.