Dangote Petrochemicals and
Refining Company said it would save Nigeria $7.5 billion annually when its
ongoing projects are completed in first quarter of 2019.
Speaking to journalists at
the weekend during an onsite facility tour of the projects situated at Lekki
Free Trade Zone, Lagos, the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote,
explained that “the money would be earn from import substitution. Import
substitution means that what you will realize earnings from those goods you can
produce here instead of importing them. $5.5 billion is used to import aviation
fuel, diesel, kerosene, poly ethane etc. When we export these products, we get
forex and we will stop importing all these products.
“This project is attacking
the entire system in two folds. One fold is that no more imports. Because of
you look at it today, 40 per cent of foreign exchange goes into importation of
refined petroleum products. In less than three months, our cement factories
imported almost $100 million LPFO. So if you produce here, you don’t need to
import. We cannot charge anybody in dollars. What we are selling in the
industry will be paid in Naira. And you will create jobs. There are values we
are creating. By importation, you export jobs and create poverty here. The
excess capacity above what Nigeria can consume is what will generate the $5
billion.”
Also, Dangote said he is
committed to the multi-billion dollar project to help diversify the nation’s
economy. Urging government to sincerely pursue the diversification of the
economy, he said that projects such as these are needed to wean Nigeria from
relying solely on oil as well as optimise government revenue.
“The best way of
diversification for Nigeria was agriculture and our fertilizer plant is in line
with that goal. By the time we finish out gas pipeline, it can generate about
12,000MW and we can export to other African countries.
“We would have the capacity
to store four billion litres of products, and can load 2,680 trucks per day,”
he said. Dangote noted that the project would crash the price of Premium Motor
Spirit (PMS) because the product is refined in-country, and will therefore save
some costs incurred in the import market.
“We are putting in 65
million cubic meters of sand and that was why we brought in three dredgers, two
of which are the biggest in the world. This place is eight times the size of
Victoria Island,” he said.
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