At last, all is set for President Muhammadu Buhari to be in Lagos on May 22 to commission the Dangote Refinery.
In an exclusive event notification sent to Business Hilights by Dangote Group on Sunday, the Group wrote as follows: “Save the date, Monday, May 22, 2023, for the official commissioning of Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE. Your formal invitation will be sent to you in due course.”
Meanwhile the above notification further confirms earlier tweet by the Special Assistant to the president on digital communications, Bashir Ahmad, announcing that Mr. President would be in Lagos on May, 22 for the commissioning.
Ahmad had tweeted as follows earlier on Sunday saying, “Efforts by the Federal Government to make Nigeria self-sufficient in local refining of crude oil to save the scarce foreign exchange used in the importation of petroleum products have received a boost as the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery, is set for inauguration on May 22nd, 2023, by President Muhammadu Buhari.”
Business Hilights recalls that said construction activities start6ed at the world class Dangote Refinery is a 650,000 barrels per day (BPD) integrated refinery project located in the Lekki free trade zone area of Lagos state few years ago.
The project, which cost an estimated $19 billion to build, is Africa’s biggest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train facility.
The integrated refinery and petrochemical project is expected to generate 9,500 direct and 25,000 indirect jobs.
Its output is expected to be more than enough to meet Nigeria’s fuel demands and turn Africa’s largest crude producer into an exporter of refined crude.
Last year, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Group and Africa’s richest person, said his oil refinery would be commissioned before the end of Buhari’s tenure.
In June 2021, Mele Kyari, group managing director, NNPC, confirmed that the federal government would acquire a 20 percent equity stake in the Dangote Refinery.
Two months later, the federal executive council (FEC) approved the sum of $2.76 billion for the acquisition of a 20 percent minority equity stake in the refinery.
