Aliko Dangote, the chairman of Dangote Group has announced that Dangote refinery has enough capacity to satisfy the petrol demand of not just Nigeria, but the entire sub-Saharan region of Africa. This is as the refinery begins production of petrol.
Dangote disclosed this while addressing the press on Tuesday at the inspection of the 650,000 barrels per day refinery. Commending President Tinubu for the Naira for crude initiative which will also ensure the Naira for petroleum products, Dangote said the initiative will create stability for the Naira, as it will address 40 per cent of the demand of dollars in the market.
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According to the chairman, the refined products will be distributed in the Nigerian market, as soon as the company finalizes arrangement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
“Today is a very special day, which I think Nigeria has not produced petrol, which is gasoline, for very many years.
But I stand with you today, I would like to salute the people of Nigeria and the government of President Abe Bola, for creating the environment for us to thrive and also achieve this monumental task of giving energy to our people for growth, development and prosperity.
“As you know, there’s quite a lot of what you call round-tripping, where people now do documentation and the fuel does not come into Nigeria. So right now, as we have this refinery working, it will show the true consumption of Nigeria. We can track every single loaded truck and we will try as much as possible to track the loaded ships, trucks who can tell you where they are.
“Just like now, in some of the projects that we do, we can tell you exactly the consumption pattern. And I hope this refinery will actually change the entire dynamics, not only in Nigeria, but in sub-Saharan Africa. The capacity that we have will not only meet up with the Nigerian demand, it will meet up with the demand of the sub-Saharan Africa, at least,” he said.
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Dangote also disclosed that the product was of good quality, which will ensure that the engines of vehicles are safe and last longer. “So you are now going to have good petrol where the engines of your vehicles will last longer. You will not be having an engine issue, you know, which a lot of us were having, it won’t happen at all. So the quality here will match that of quality anywhere in the world, U.S., America. We will make sure that nobody will beat us in terms of quality.
“We will begin real import substitution, which will save our nation’s foreign exchange and also earn foreign exchange, and stabilize the Naira and it will also help bring down inflation and cost of living.”
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Noting the demand for polypropylene in the country, Dangote said that from October, Nigerians will no longer have to import polypropylene into the country adding that the refinery will satisfy the polypropylene market 100 per cent.
