Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari is expected to commission the Dangote Refinery in Lagos on May 22.
Bashir Ahmad, special assistant to the president on digital communications, announced the development in a tweet on Sunday.
“Efforts by the Federal Government to make Nigeria self-sufficient in local refining of crude oil to save the scarce foreign exchange used in the importation of petroleum products have received a boost as the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery, is set for inauguration on May 22nd, 2023, by President Muhammadu Buhari,” the tweet reads.
The Dangote Refinery is a 650,000 barrels per day (BPD) integrated refinery project located in the Lekki free trade zone area of Lagos state.
The project, which cost an estimated $19 billion to build, is Africa’s biggest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train facility.
The integrated refinery and petrochemical project is expected to generate 9,500 direct and 25,000 indirect jobs.
Its output is expected to be more than enough to meet Nigeria’s fuel demands and turn Africa’s largest crude producer into an exporter of refined crude.
Last year, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Group and Africa’s richest person, said his oil refinery would be commissioned before the end of Buhari’s tenure.
In June 2021, Mele Kyari, group managing director, NNPC, confirmed that the federal government would acquire a 20 percent equity stake in the Dangote Refinery.
Two months later, the federal executive council (FEC) approved the sum of $2.76 billion for the acquisition of a 20 percent minority equity stake in the refinery.