By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The city of Lagos is radiating as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is to be commissioned today, Monday, May 22, 2023.
President Muhammadu Buhari will lead other African leaders to inaugurate the facility, which has the capacity to process 650,000 barrels per day (bpd).
A statement from Dangote Industries Limited disclosed that expected at today’s event are the President of Togo, Mr Gnassingbé Eyadéma; the President of Ghana, Mr Nana Akufo-Addo; the President of Senegal, Mr Macky Sall; the President of Niger Republic, Mr Mohamed Bazoum; and the President of Chad, Mr Mahamat Déby.
In addition, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda will join the event virtually, while Nigeria’s President-elect, Mr Bola Tinubu, will be present, with the 36 state governors and most of the governors-elect, ministers, senators, and captains of industries in Nigeria and others from outside the country would be expected to grace the occasion.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is the world’s largest single-train refinery in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, and sits on 2,635 hectares of land in the Dangote Industries Free Zone in Ibeju-Lekki.
The facility will provide employment to over 100,000 persons and would be expected to meet the needs of Nigerian consumers and those in neighbouring countries while allowing for exports beyond the African continent.
The refinery will drive the promotion of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as over 50 countries in the trade bloc depend on imported refined petroleum products.
According to the Facts Sheet on Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the new Refinery can meet 100 per cent of the Nigerian requirement of all refined products (gasoline, 53 million litres per day; diesel, 34 million litres per day; kerosene, 10 million litres per day, and aviation jet, 2 million litres per day) and also have a surplus of each of these products for export.
It was stated that the refinery design complies with the World Bank, US EPA, European emission norms and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) emission/effluent norms.
Adedapo Adesanya