Africas richest man and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has disclosed that Dangote refinery, petrochemical, gas and fertilizer projects at Lekki Free Zone (LFZ) in Lagos upon completion would solve half of Nigeria’s crude oil refining and exporting challenges.

He said the Gas Pipeline Project would also guarantee uninterrupted power supply in Lagos on completion, which would positively increase the Lagos State’s Gross Domestic Project (GDP).

He added that the projects would benefit the local communities at least 65 per cent of people in the catchment area would be employed, while over 1000 would be trained.

“Our target is that in the next five years or so from now, we hope and we believe that half of Nigeria’s crude will be refined and exported rather than just exporting crude to go and create jobs elsewhere,” Dangote said.

In addition, he said “Really, the project we are doing here is to help diversify the economy of Nigeria and it is the largest single project anywhere in the world be it fertilizer, gas pipeline, petrochemical or refinery. This is the largest single refinery in the world.”

R-L: Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode; Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Minister of Power, Works & Housing, Babatunde Fashola, listening with rapt attention to President, Dangote Group; Alhaji Aliko Dangote during the Vice President’s inspection visit to the Dangote Refinery at the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos recently

“The petrochemical plant that we have is 13 times bigger than the Eleme Petrochemical plant; what we are doing in terms of fertilizer is 10 times that of NAFCON (now Notore Fertilizer). It is the largest fertilizer plant in Africa” he said.

The vice-president of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo during the tour of the project site recently, accompanied by some members of the Federal Executive Council, revealed that the Gas Project upon completion has the capacity to produce about three billion cubic feet of gas daily, which would permanently address the two billion cubic feet daily gas required to power the country.

“This is incredible if that can be done because it would be a major strategic asset for Nigeria, It would boost our power supply tremendously,” the Vice President disclosed.

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode (middle), with Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (2nd left); Minister of Power, Works & Housing, Babatunde Fashola (left), President, Dangote Group; Alhaji Aliko Dangote (2nd right) and Group Executive Director, Dangote Projects, Devarcoma  Edwin during the Vice President’s inspection visit to the Dangote Fertilizer Plant at the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos, recently

He added that “Many projects are going on here. It is clearly, and I venture to say that the project is possibly the largest in Africa. Here, we are building a refinery to refine 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, which by all standards is the largest in the world.

“There are also the petrochemical and fertilizer plants, which are projected to be the largest in the world. There is also a pipeline project. I think it is quite an incredible industrial undertaking and possibly the largest and the most ambitious on the continent today. It is quite inspiring.”

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode pointed that the project would benefit the country and therefore assured that his administration would provide the necessary support to ensure that the projects are completed within schedule.

“The coming of the Vice President to inspect this project is instructive and a sign post that the Federal Government is in support of what is going on and the truth is this, we might not be able to show you all that is going on here but in another few weeks, we will do an aerial view of this project and also do a documentary because for the very first time we are going to have a Petrochemical project that is coming on stream by December 2017; a Refinery that is coming on stream by the first quarter of 2019 and also the Gas project that is coming on stream by 2018. You can just imagine or visualize what that means to the economy of Lagos,” Governor Ambode explained.