The President of The Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, on Monday, said his refinery will generate “massive” job opportunities for the teeming Nigerian youths.
He stated this in Lagos during the commissioning of the 650,000 bpd Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The project is expected to churn out Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), diesel (AGO), aviation jet fuel and Dual-Purpose Kerosene (DPK), among other refined products.
“The refinery operation will generate massive job opportunities in their hundreds of thousands,” he said while highlighting the benefits of the refinery.
“The refinery will make available to our industries vital raw materials to a large range of manufacturers in the pharmaceuticals, food, beverages, construction and many other industries.”
The businessman also expressed thanks for the “massive” support for him and The Dangote Group towards the creation of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals plant.
He appreciated Buhari and Nigerians for the immeasurable support his company received from the inception of the project to its completion.
“What I want to share with Nigerians is actually to show my personal gratitude and that of The Dangote Group, for all the assistance that we got from the President, from the Federal Government of Nigeria, from even the President-elect, because he also set the pace by creating the Lekki Free Trade Zone as part of his dream.
“And also we want to thank most especially Governor Fashola, Governor Ambode and most especially Governor Sanwo-Olu; because they have given us all the assistance that we were looking for.
“We thank all Nigerians for giving us their support which is too numerous to mention,” the industrialist said.
First product to hit market by end of July
According to the billionaire businessman, the first product of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals “will be in the market before the end of July, beginning of August this year”.
“Beyond today’s ceremony, our first goal is to ramp up production of the various products to ensure that within this year, we’re able to fully satisfy our nation’s demand for higher quality products,” he said.
According to him, the accomplishment is to enable Nigeria to eliminate what he described as the tragedy of import dependency and stop — “once and for all” — toxic, substandard petroleum products from being dumped in Nigeria’s market.
“Beyond this, we intend to ensure that our plants are run at the highest capacity of utilisation and the highest efficiency to enable us to export competitively to other markets, especially in the ECOWAS and wider regions in which 53 countries out of 55 are dependent on imports to meet their petroleum products demand,” he added.
