https://m.guardian.ng/infrastructure/dangote-is-a-beast-an-encounter-with-africas-most-under-celebrated-first-son/

“Suji my son, you must follow me
somewhere, I want to blow your mind
and quadruple your vision”.

This was a message I got from my royal
father, the Ooni of Ife, HRH
AdeyeyeEnitanOgunwusi, the Ojaja II. I
had to leave everything I was doing, and
make my way to Ibejulekki Free Trade
Zone where Dangote has not only
transformed the skyline, but also
changed the social and economic value
of the location, making it the new Lagos
for all industrial and commercial
opportunities.

It was a tedious experience traveling to a
location that should ordinarily take us
40minutes, but we had to spend 1hour
30 minutes as a result of the
unavoidable traffic on that route.
However, I was stunned by the level of
development that has unfolded in that
area and I must appreciate the Lagos
State government for the social and
economic revolution of the Lekki Aja
zone.

I enjoyed the trip which was filled with
different interesting scenes, one of such
is the sight of road-side hawkers, who
reminded me of my days, hawking in
South of France, and the endless joy
when one finally makes that one sale. I
saw one hawker with a carton of Gala
delicately balanced on his head. I bought
the whole box from him, not because I
love gala but as a way to appreciate his
hard work and bring joy to the face of a
man who needs it the most.

We arrived Ibeju and I couldn’t but stop
to appreciate the enormity of the project,
the passion of the people and the
humongous man-power. This was a
place I had visited in 2016 with my
friend Sulaimon Sanni Bello, and it was
a simple desert land, all you could see
then were many piles, trees and non-
exhaustive swamp being sand-filled.

Today what seemed like a dream has
become a reality.

Getting to the gate where my name was
already registered, a Hilux truck which
was already waiting for us took us to
Chief Edwin’s Office Wing, and we were
ushered in.

I went straight, prostrated and paid
homage to my most adored human – my
King and mentor, Kabi o osi, Ooni of Ife,
Ojaja-II, HRH AdeyeyeEnitanOgunwusi,
the first son of oduduwa.

“Chief Edwin, meet my first son, the
number one luxury real estate mogul. He
builds skyscrapers in Ikoyi and Banana
Island. He has disrupted everything
mediocre in that space. I have a lot of
them, my dream and vision is to inspire
and motivate the great youths of our
nation”.

I greeted everyone seated, the CFO Mr
Femi Kolade, the MD Guiseppe Surace,
the amazing GM EgbonYinkaAkande,
Kabiesi’s friend and partner
Mr.RotimiOsobe and my very good
aburo and friend Landwey –
OlawaleAyilara. It was an incredible
experience where we discussed the
magnanimity of the project, the vision,
the inspirations and the challenges.
Kabiesi said; “I know 24hours will not be
enough to go around this 140 kilometer
project but let’s start”.

I have traveled around the world and
visited numerous industrial parks but
never have I seen something this
gigantic – a city in a city, a swamp
transformed to 8 times the size of
Victoria Island, and this is why my King
said it’s an understatement to call the
Dangote Refinery in IbejuLekki a city,
we shall name it a NATION!

Concretely fencedaround approximately
3500 hectares of land, the largest single
line refinery in the world producing
650,000 barrels a day! According to
Chief Edwin; “The current world largest
produces 420,000 barrels a day, what we
have is 50% bigger than the biggest”. A
3-in-one industrial park where they
refine petroleum and petro-chemical
products, and also the biggest and
largest producer of fertilizers not only in
Nigeria but the whole of Africa with an
annual capacity of 3 million tons.

I have unfortunately been amongst some
big and influential people, who throw
tantrums and comments about the
Dangote Refinery dream. One said
‘’Dangote should have remained in
cement, he has put his hand into what
will swallow him, that project will never
come to pass’’. Today the 22 billion
dollar project is 90% completed.

Sometimes, don’t blame people for their
inability to assimilate your vision,
because it’s only limited to the capacity
of their imagination. I am sure this man
today will be swallowing his words
when the plant opens in few months Q1
2022, and the fertilizer which is 50%
completed will start its first commercial
sale this month of May 2021.

I am sharing this as an inspiration for
myself and for our generation that if
Dangote can do it, we too can do it! In a
country where many see calamities, let’s
see opportunities! Let’s transform our
anger into hunger for innovation and
together change our nation.

In 2007, Dangote approached the
government to buy the Port Harcourt
refinery, he paid and somehow the deal
was frustrated. He was devastated but
what looked like a disappointment is
now a blessing! Today, less than 20
years later, Dangote is building and has
almost completed a project that is 10
times bigger than what he thought was a
disappointment.

Chief Edwin, the brainbox and Mr.
Giussepe the MD of the project narrated
with an overwhelming passion the vision
and the project, for more than 2 hours.
We couldn’t finish the tour of the
fertilizer plant with a 3,000,000 ton
capacity. We also learnt that Nigeria
consumes 750,000 tons annually and
Brazil their biggest market consumes
8,000,000 metric tons.


The lesson I learnt
which is very important is this; Chief
Edwin made us understand the farming
sector of this nation has not yet
harnessed up to 10% of its true potential.
We went on with Mr. Giussepe,
passionately explaining the technical
data, numbers and words, in his Italian
accent, just passionately expressing the
gigantic nature of the project.

A project which has taken about 4 years
to complete. It is still a baffle how could
one man assemble a team of over 15,000
expatriates, constructing about 50,000
homes in 9 months, 2500 construction
equipment (making him the largest
construction company in the country,
bigger than JB), 350 Cranes, building 20
control rooms for 20 projects, grouped in
5 major projects, making it the largest
industrial hub in Africa. A 5 billion
storage capacity of oil product (which is
5 times the capacity of all the tank farms
in Ibafo and the whole of Nigeria); a
power plant generating a combined
capacity of 500 megawatts; a business
that is employing over 200,000 skilled
and unskilled people daily, Dangote is
an entrepreneurial BEAST!

We drove through the 86 pump station
for tanker trucks, an automated station
that fills every truck in 21 minutes. At its
full potential, it should disperse
approximately 198,000 litres of fuel
daily, an efficient and illustrious project
in sub-Saharan Africa.

We went on break to have lunch, a
beautiful mixture of about 12 dishes
from African fusion to the pastas of Italy.
I rolled my sleeves to the hot Amala and
Egusi with fresh goat meat. I didn’t care
staining my white shirt, it was as
delicious as my experience in the mega
project of 140 kilometer road network
(Phase1), which is almost like traveling
from Lagos to Ibadan. It is HUGE!
We finished eating and got on the bus
again and Mr. Giuseppe- the MD of the
project, took us on another 3hours tour.

The Italian born who has been in
Nigeria for almost 20 years enjoyed
taking us on the tour and giving us every
detail, something he has done more than
200 times. At every junction, he will stop
and give us a lecture on the project, the
vision, the challenges and how they
overcame them, (Kabiyesi, this place you
stand now was a swamp, we sand-filled
65 million cubic meter of sand bringing
3 dredgers – 2 of them were the largest
dredger ever built in the world).

“After sand-filling about 65 million cubic
meter, we had to do a foundation of
approximately 200,000 piles, stacking
350 piles a day, a total cost of over 300
million dollars. We were frustrated and
had to do many things ourselves in
order to meet deadlines. We set up our
batching plant delivering 30,000m3
batching capacity on a daily basis, using
about 1000 Tipper trucks and today we
have done more than 2.5 million m3 of
Concrete”.The same amount of concrete
needed to build the BurjKhalifa.


KabiyesiOonirisa, Oba Oluitori, and
everyone were so perplexed and
wondered how one man could conceive
this. Kabiyesi never stopped asking
questions, technical questions that if I
didn’t know him, I would have thought
he had done a refinery project before.
Everyone was left in awe every time the
Oonirisa asked a question or contributed
to the conversation.

It was a great experience, an eye-
opener, and a lesson for any
entrepreneur on earth. One of the
lessons I learnt also was that Dangote
had to build his own port, out of
necessity and urgency. Apapa port
capacity couldn’t support Dangote’s
equipment which are 3 to 8000 tons,
with the biggest single steel product in
the world, weighing 3,000 tons.
Sometimes, your location and
environment should not be enough to
swallow your vision.

The so-called miniport is not mini at all,
it has a tonnage capacity 3 times that of
Apapa. Though limited in size, it can still
handle approximately 500 containers
daily. It’s small but MIGHTY! If I were
the NPA, I will immediately ease the
Apapa already over-congested port and
divert some ships to the Dangote port.


The undisputed 10 times Africa’s richest
man never sleeps and is always active
and welcoming when we appear in his
home. I have been here for 31 years, I
love it here! I come home, sleep, off to
work and many times out of the
country, you can’t be sleeping when you
have such a humongous project at hand,
especially in a rather tough terrain that
is relatively new to us.


Alhaji came outside to usher us in, he
bowed in greetings to the Oonirisa and
welcomed us to his home with delicious
ginger tea and fresh honey. We were
hosted by his assistant Mr. Sam, who
always politely gave us what we needed
before asking.

“The President of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria “Private sector”, thank you for
inviting us to your home. Alhaji, meet
my first son, Sujimoto….”

“Oooo I know Sujina, he’s the luxury
skyscraper man, keep up the good work
Suji….”


Kabiyesi continued;

“Alhaji, we have come to bless and
appreciate you as a son of Africa who
has made us proud, for over 40 years!
You have been consistent, moving up
like this your plane on the table. You
have confronted and fought the biggest
battles and impacted our economy! You
have made dreaming a possibility and
inspired many generations. We are
thankful to you and that’s why I bring
you this artwork, as a symbol of wealth
and good health.”

11th of May 2021, will be a day I will
never forget in my life, actually one of
the best days of my life! A day that
changed my perspective, increased my
vision and redefined my mission on
earth.


We left the location around 10:30pm
and I couldn’t stop thinking about my
life, my vision and my projects. I told the
Ooni about my Sujimoto Diamond City
(SDC) – a smart city inside a city, where
we shall have about 16 skyscrapers with
the shortest one at 22 storey, 2 giant
Malls, 2 exclusive 5 star Hotels,
Amusement Parks, Games and Event
centers with a 25,000 car park capacity,
this trip has really inspired me and
revamped my vision.


Entrepreneurship is about surrounding
oneself with people, stories and events
that inspires the hidden dreams in us.

I shared the story on my TNL group
where many appreciated and adored
Dangote for his audacious project. Some
were being critical and I had to
vigorously address them, that it was a
shame to only see the ‘hole’ when you
are served a doughnut’.

. This is an investment of 22 billion dollar which
will generate 27 billion annual revenue,
with a profit margin of 15 to 25%. If this
does not drive you, then I doubt
anything will. If anyone wasn’t
mesmerized- I was, as I even dreamt
about the project again last night.

This trip has taught me that Fortune
follows the Brave and life will only
succumb to you if you persistently chase
your dreams.

Sijibomi Ogundele
Ceo Sujimoto group
©️ 2021 Guardian Newspapers. All Rights
Reserved

Dangote is a smart one. None of our millionaire and billionaire in dollars were ready to hold the bull by the horn, he stepped forward, and look at what it has lead to.

I only pity the people of Ondo state in all this. The Dangote refinery was to be built in Ondo state before, but the Governor of Ondo state back then no serious.

I like this part: "why do you see a hole when you're served a doughnut" some Nigerians are so blinded by hatred that the only thing they see about Nigeria is violence and penury. Here is a hausa man midwifing one of the biggest industrial complex in the world in a region outside his own. If we can all put our positive energy to work this country will be great for all of us.

Invictus and hushpuppi comes to mind. After cutting corners, they gave speeches just like this one. Give me cheap dollar too and watch Dangote fade into oblivion.

mamdanju:
I like this part: "why do you see a hole when you're served a doughnut" some Nigerians are so blinded by hatred that the only thing they see about Nigeria is violence and penury. Here is a hausa man midwifing one of the biggest industrial complex in the world in a region outside his own. If we can all put our positive energy to work this country will be great for all of us.

Why is FG trying to site key investments in the north when a business man you are praising is going to another man's land? The same hatred driving the north push key assets northwards is what made them favour a northerner at all cost and gave him unhindered access to forex at uncompetitive rate.