CBN sings Dangote Refinery praises, silent on failed state of national refineries
Every effort made by media executives for the visiting Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele to comment on state of all four but moribund refineries failed even as he went all the way singing praises on the exploits of Dangote refinery and fertilizer plant.
Emefiele was further amazed when the management of Dangote Industries Group disclosed that its fertilizer plant would be ready for operations in May 2019.
The Group further informed CBN that there are already plans in place to start selling petrol, diesel and aviation fuel by early 2020 on completion the huge refinery being constructed in Lekki.
Emefiele, who commended the Group for its commitment towards bringing the project on stream as planned, expressed satisfaction with the facilities on site, adding that the fertilizer plant which is now fully completed, would become operational before the end of May 2019.
Emefiele assured that Nigeria will not only be self-sufficient in the production of refined petroleum products but will also join the league of countries exporting petroleum products out of the country, once the refinery becomes operational by the first quarter of 2020.
CBN chief averred that “This is certainly a transformational project for Nigeria and it totally keys into the objectives of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration that says that we need to think about how to conserve foreign exchange, how to diversify the economy and put it in proper perspective”.
However, checks by Business Hilights on the state of the national refineries showed that few weeks after the Saudi Arabia Energy chief visited Abuja and assured of his country’s partnership in revamping the refineries, dumped Nigeria and is currently partnering with South Africa to set up world class refineries which will be Africa’s oil refinery with the highest production output.
