Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has described as “exciting” the decision of the Dangote Group to site its petroleum, fertilizer and petrochemical company in Lagos.
The governor said the decision is to the advantage of the state and will lead to real growth and development in the Lekki area and the state in particular.
In a chat with select newsmen recently, Sanwo-Olu said Aliko Dangote is a rare breed that has done so much towards youth employment and economic development of the country.
On Dangote’s refinery project, the governor said: “We are happy with this investment. It is an investment that is real and it is also an investment that has come to stay. In fact, this is the largest single construction site anywhere in the world. We are truly excited. The question is, how do we key into this project? Part of the things we will be doing here is a comprehensive new infrastructure that will be coming to this corridor. We are closing up on road connections out of this place, that one will go straight to Epe, another one will go towards Ijebu-Ode and another one will go right back into Lagos.
“This is necessary because we realise that once this project is finished, they will need to either transport them on the road, or by the shoreline, which is also why, just across here is where we have the Lekki deep sea port. So, all these are comprehensively coming together, because we know that infrastructure has to come around all these conversations and …the road has bridges, it has all sorts of connections that will be able to take the products and also be able to open up this place comprehensively where people can also come and work, live and it will be a full ecosystem that we are building up all around here.”
Dangote refinery is a 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) integrated refinery and petrochemical project under construction in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos, Nigeria. It is expected to be Africa’s biggest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train facility, upon completion.
The Dangote Refinery will process a variety of light and medium grades of crude to produce Euro-V quality clean fuels including gasoline and diesel as well as jet fuel and polypropylene. The integrated refinery and petrochemical project is expected to generate 9,500 direct and 25,000 indirect jobs.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) also recently described the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals as a pride to Nigeria and Africa.
The NGF said the project would contribute immensely to Africa’s economy and help the continent attain food security when fully operational.
