Nigeria will stop fuel importation by 2016 – Dangote

With an investment of a whopping $9 billion in petrochemical, the richest man in Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is optimistic Nigeria will stop fuel importation by the end of 2016.
The mega project, which will be sited in Olokola, Ondo State, is expected to create no fewer than 85,000 jobs and another 8,000 jobs for engineers.
Dangote disclosed this to State House correspondents on Wednesday shortly after leading Chief Executives of participating banks, including First Bank of Nigeria, UBA, Stanbic-IBTC, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Ecobank, Fidelity Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank and Rand Merchant Bank to President Goodluck Jonathan.
The meeting with the President was also attended by another business mogul, Femi Otedola; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga; and the President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Kola Jamodu.
According to Dangote, funds have been mobilized by the Dangote Group to build Africa’s largest refinery, petro-chemicals and fertilizer manufacturing complex in Nigeria.
He said a credit facility of $3.3 billion has been secured from the consortium of banks
He said: “Nigeria is going to be taken out of the list of countries that import petroleum products by 2016.
“We will produce 20 million metric tons, which is equivalent to what Nigeria consumes currently.
“Today, we did the signing ceremony.
“The Vice President came to witness the signing but we insisted on coming to thank Mr. President so much for his policies.
“Without good government policies, there is no way the private sector can invest in Nigeria because we are not Father Christmas at all.
“The polices have to be right.”
The President of Dangote Group noted that Nigeria currently spends about $30 billion annually to import petroleum products.
He commended the banks for agreeing to be part of the financing, saying: “It shows that there’s great confidence in the Nigerian economy and quite a lot of appetite for investment in our country.”
President Goodluck Jonathan told the Dangote-led delegation that his administration will keep on implementing policies and measures that will continuously improve the operating environment for entrepreneurs and investors in the Nigerian economy.
The President thanked Alhaji Dangote and the Chief Executives of the Nigerian banks that are helping to finance the project for being patriotic and having the confidence to invest in their own country.
He noted that the Dangote Group’s massive investment in refining, petrochemicals and fertilizer production will contribute significantly to the attainment of government’s priority objective of job creation.
President Jonathan said: “We are pleased that you are now investing in refining, petro-chemicals and fertilizer production.
“It is the downstream sector of oil and gas that can really create many jobs.
“Your interest and investment in that area will help in the area of job creation which we have been emphasizing.
“You are also helping us to move away from being a mere producer of raw materials by adding value to our natural resources.”