The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin
Emefiele on Sunday described the Dangote Refinery a game changer, and
highlighted his willingness to assist Nigerian firms seeking to import
equipments to ease business growth in the country to obtain faster access to
foreign exchange.
The CBN Governor indicated this on Sunday during an
inspection of Dangote Refinery in Lagos, noting that the refinery when it
starts full operation, would be refining 650,000 barrels of crude oil,
per day (bpd) .
The tour of the facility was held at its location
within the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos.
Emefiele said that the projects on completion would also be
expected to produce 883 KPTA polypropylene plant, three million tons per
annum Urea plant and 1,100 kilometres sub-sea pipeline infrastructure.
He said it would transform the Nigerian economy from a
net-importer of refined petroleum products to a net- exporter of
petroleum products.
The governor said that the support to indigenous
companies by the CBN was to ease the importation of equipments needed
into Nigeria for production.
“I am extremely delighted on the huge investment and
massive progress recorded here in Dangote Petrochemical and Fertilizer
Refinery”, Emefiele stated, saying everything demonstrates commitment and
dedication.
“This shows commitment and readiness for business.
“I have said it before that we will also support any
Nigerian companies that take interest in construction and manufacturing
of goods in Nigeria.
“CBN will provide funding in terms of foreign exchange and
naira to import equipments that will fast track business activities.
“Dangote Group ‘s nine billion dollars investment is a
reality of an indigenous company’s commitment that is interested in the
socio-economic growth of Nigeria.
”This has made us to support Dangote Group with
N75 billion in Forex to import equipments and other facilities to ease
completion of the refinery,” he said.
The CBN boss said that, “This is the kind of
investment we need in Nigeria that will empower Nigerians and boost our
revenue.
”I am happy that this project by Dangote Group
came up in my life time. The Federal Government will continue to support the
project and any other projects in the country.
“The ongoing nine-billion-dollar-refinery investment will
enjoy our support, no doubt.
”We are doing this to fast-track other importation of
equipments you will need for a speedy completion of that project and to
encourage other Nigerians to follow your lead,” Emefiele said.
According to him, the tour is necessary to lend our support
to this laudable project that will transform Nigeria’s downstream oil sector.
Emefiele said that the CBN would continue to support
tremendous and impactful projects that would improve the socio-economic profile
of the country through such investments.
He said the diversification of the Dangote Group was worthy
of emulation by other industrialists.
“By the time this refinery is completed, it will not only
service the needs of our domestic economy but shore up our international oil
investments.
“Projects like this and our support will encourage more
Nigerians to begin to think like the Dangote Group,” he added
Emefiele commended Alhaji Aliko Dangote for his
resilience and dedication to create wealth.
“It may interest you to know that we always expend one third
of our total foreign exchange obligation to import petroleum products.
“When the fertilizer plant will commence operation
between April and May this year and the Refinery commences operation in
April 2020, we will have a lot of savings from foreign exchange.
”In near future, we may be buying foreign exchange from
the Dangote Group ,” he said.
Emefiele urged other private refinery licensees to develop
capacity to build more refineries.
“I have not seen any licensee approach the bank for credit
to build refinery.
”Remember, such licensee will approach his bank which will
in turn assess his capacity to build such refinery and such request will be
forwarded to the CBN for approval.
”If they have the capacity, we will support them through
their banks,” Emefiele said.
In his remarks, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, commended the CBN for
their support and for believing in the project.
He said that the largest single train refinery in the world,
Dangote Refinery, would commence operations in April 2020.
Dangote said that the construction of the refinery that
would be producing 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day by the Dangote
Group was expected to help Nigeria save over $7.5 billion through import
substitution.
He said that it would also put the country on the
global map as a major oil and gas hub in Africa.
He said that the Dangote Refinery, therefore, would help the
government create a robust domestic refining sector.
Dangote said that it would reduce the importation of
petroleum products and save the country from capital flight.
“The refinery is going to save a huge amount of foreign
exchange out- flow because, today, forex is being used in the importation of
petroleum products and our foreign reserves are being heavily depleted.
“And whatever little forex we are earning from the sale of
crude oil, is being used to import petroleum products.
“Our petroleum refinery is going to have a major beneficial
impact on the economy in terms of foreign exchange savings,” he said.
Dangote said: “We will be adding value to our economy as all
these projects are currently creating about 26,000 employment opportunities.
He said that when completed, it would create about
80,000 employment opportunities.
“We will also save over 7.5 billion dollars for Nigeria
annually through import substitution.
” We will generate an additional $5.5 billion per
annum through exports of the refined petroleum products, fertiliser and
petro-chemicals,” he said.
The Dangote Group boss said that the company had been
championing a comprehensive overhaul of the energy sector in Nigeria, with a
view to making it a self-reliant nation.
He attributed Dangote Group’s decision to invest massively
in the refinery sector to its strong desire to help transform the industry into
a veritable driver of national economic growth and industrialisation.
