Dangote Refinery ‘ll Provide Over 70,000 Jobs – Emefiele

BY CHINYERE OBIORA, LAGOS – With only months away from its scheduled commissioning and commencement of full operations, there is excitement in the air that over 70,000 Nigerians will be gainfully employed by the Dangote Refinery.

The good news comes from Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, who is optimistic about the project’s capacity to help reduce the nation’s high unemployment rate when it becomes fully functional.

Reeling out the expected employment statistics, Emefiele said the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant will hopefully raise the number of employees from the present 34,000 to over 70,000 when it finally comes on stream in less than two years time.

Speaking while on tour of the Refinery at the weekend, the CBN Governor expressed satisfaction with the facilities on ground and lauded the Dangote Group for its commitment towards ensuring the project commences operations as scheduled.

According to him; “The reason that I am here today is to see what is going on on site. This time that the economy is going through its own challenges there is need for us to diversify the Nigerian economy from oil to other areas where we have abundant resources.

“The 650,000-bpd capacity refinery when operational will not only satisfy local consumption but will also position Nigeria as a major exporter of petroleum products.”

Emefiele further stated that “Nigeria is so central and this refinery will serve almost the whole of Africa which will lead to cheap cost of freight”, adding; “This project is so strategically positioned that it will even make the final price of petroleum within Nigeria and even outside Nigeria to be lower than those imported outside the African continent.

“We need to encourage other Nigerians and we will keep saying this. Nigerians must stand tall and be ready to come out and support their country.”

The CBN governor said apart from the low interest rate regime, the government was also putting other policies in place to rejuvenate industries and create employment opportunities for the citizenry.”

He said the time has come for other Nigerians making money in services to join the Dangote train in helping to grow the economy as government cannot do it alone, assuring that the apex bank is ready to support any Nigerian or foreigner who finds Nigeria as a good investment destination.

“Whatever we need to help you we will do it. That is why we are forcing the banks today that they must do what is right by lending to credible persons and act as catalyst to our economic development,” the CBN boss said.

In his remarks, Africa’s richest man and brain behind multi-billion Naira project, Aliko Dangote, said the mission is to aggressively reduce the unemployment rate in the country.

He said besides job creation, the refinery will also retain foreign exchange in the country as Nigeria becomes self-sufficient in petroleum refining.

The President of Dangote Group of Companies, who commended the CBN Governor for holding down lending rates, said the plants would create thousands of jobs for Nigerians.

“Right now, we have reached over 48 per cent, but majority of the equipment, when they come, are just going to be installed. We have done all the foundations, as you have seen, and first of all, we want to thank the the (CBN) Governor and the Deputy Governor for visiting here just to justify all the helps they have been giving to us.

“Besides, we are going to help in terms of not only creating jobs but also in reducing the outflow of foreign exchange not only in petroleum products but also in petrochemicals, and in fertilizers. We would be one of the highest foreign exchange generating company going forward”, Dangote said.

According to the business mogul, “Nigeria will soon become the biggest and only urea exporter in sub-Saharan Africa for the first time. And we are not only exporting, we would be exporting big time.

“We are also going to have polyethylene which is about 1.3 million tonnes annually. These two products would bring in something like about $2.5 billion annually in terms of foreign exchange. A lot of Forex would now come in and that $2.5 billion is only about 10 per cent of remittances.”

He further confirmed that the Company’s $2 billion Granulated Urea Fertiliser plant located at Ibeju Lekki, Lagos will begin operations in May and would make Nigeria the only Urea exporting country in Sub-Saharan Africa, and biggest producer of polyethylene, which is capable of generating $2.5 billion annually.