No fewer than five African presidents are expected in Nigeria later on today, Monday, to join President Muhammadu Buhari and President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to commission Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub.
Top Nigerian economic and political players are also expected to attend the historic inauguration of the refinery owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
Some of the African leaders expected to grace the events are Faure Gnassingbé (Togo), Nana Akufo-Addo(Ghana); Macky Sall (Senegal), Mohamed Bazoum (Niger Republic) and Mahamat Déby(Chad).
Rwanda President Paul Kagame will virtually send a goodwill message at the event.
The Dangote refinery is a 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) capacity facility that is sitting on 2,635 hectares in the Dangote Industries Free Zone, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos State, southwestern Nigeria.
It is the world’s largest single-train refinery expected to provide direct and indirect employment to more than 100,000 persons.
The massive plant would deliver a surplus of about 38 million litres of petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel for Nigeria daily. It is expected to meet the larger percentage fuel supply needed in Nigeria.
The firm stated that the facility was “designed to process a large variety of crudes including many of the African crudes, some of the Middle Eastern crudes and the US Light Tight Oil.”
Despite being Africa’s biggest oil producer, the African giant imports petrol, diesel and processed petroleum products because its refineries have failed to operate as expected.
Experts hope the refinery will bring an end to the country’s recurring fuel shortages that has affected businesses and investments over the years.
Meanwhile, Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke said the Dangote Refinery would usher in a new era of energy sufficiency for Nigeria and Africa.
In a statement issued through his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, the governor congratulated the Chairman of Dangote Holdings, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and praised him for his inventiveness in the project’s conceptualization and implementation.