As activities at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals in Lagos State began, encomiums continued to flood in for Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
The latest in the line of praise came from the Labour Party’s (LP) 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who stated that the Dangote Refinery will benefit Nigeria’s struggling economy.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, congratulated Dangote on the achievement, which he termed as a “major milestone in the Nigerian energy sector” in a series of posts on X (previously Twitter) on Monday night.
The refinery sited in Lagos and owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is said to have commenced operations with 350,000 barrels a day.
The refinery recently received its first one million barrels of Agbami crude grade, which represents the first phase of the six million barrels to be supplied to the refinery by several suppliers.
“Having earlier witnessed the Commissioning of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals as the World’s Largest Single Train Petroleum Refinery, I do believe it will be very beneficial to Nigeria’s troubled economy,” Obi stated.
“When it operates maximally, the refinery will boast a capacity of 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day and is expected to meet Nigeria’s domestic demand for petroleum products and help Nigeria save the much-needed foreign exchange currently spent on the importation of such products.
“It’s expected that by meeting our domestic demand and supplying the surplus to the International markets, Nigeria will take its place as a key player in the downstream petroleum sector of the global market.”
Obi noted that the private sector will play a crucial role in the struggle to move the nation from consumption to production. “This will help to create jobs, help in generating the much-needed foreign exchange, and encourage the growth of other small-scale businesses in the industry,” he added.
Today, I received from my friend and dear brother, @realFemiOtedola, the news of the Commencement of operations of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals in Lagos. I join other Nigerians in congratulating my dear brother, @AlikoDangote, and
— Peter Obi (@PeterObi) December 11, 2023