- Says “I have enough gasoline to meet West Africa’s petrol, diesel needs”
The Africa’s richest man and Chairman of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has announced that the Dangote Refinery’s strategic plans will lead Nigeria to cease gasoline imports starting next month.
Speaking at the Africa CEO Forum Annual Summit in Kigali, Dangote expressed confidence in his refinery’s ability to meet West Africa’s petrol and diesel needs, as well as the continent’s aviation fuel demand, transforming Africa’s energy landscape.
Dangote declared that by June, within the next four or five weeks, Nigeria would not import anything like gasoline; not one drop of a little.
While highlighting the refinery’s progress towards ensuring Africa’s self-sufficiency in the energy sector, Dangote stated “We have enough gasoline to give to at least the entire West Africa, diesel to give to West Africa and Central Africa. We have enough aviation fuel to give to the entire continent and also export some to Brazil and Mexico”.
Also, Dangote emphasised the refinery’s role in Africa’s self-sufficiency, noting,”today, our polypropylene and our polyethene will meet the entire demand of Africa. We are producing that raw material to make Africa self-sufficient”.
He projected that in three to four years, Africa would no longer import fertilizer, stating, ‘We will make Africa self-sufficient in potash, phosphate, and urea… We are getting there.’
Dangote added that the achievements of the company since the commissioning of the refinery in February is quite big, and it is something that they believe that Africa needs.
However, Dangote identified policy inconsistency as a major challenge for African entrepreneurs and called for a review and support from leaders to ensure proper ease of trading on the continent.”
