₦airaland Forum

By Nse Anthony - Uko


The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has revealed that the construction of Africa’s largest oil refinery required the importation of 150,000 containers, with the majority routed through the Port in Lome, Togo.

Dangote said this unprecedented logistics effort underscores the scale and complexity of building the 650,000 barrels-per-day Dangote Refinery and highlights the numerous infrastructure and regulatory challenges faced during the project’s execution.

Speaking at the Global Commodity Insights Conference on the West African Refined Fuel Market on Tuesday in Abuja, Dangote outlined how existing port capacity in Nigeria was insufficient for the project’s needs.

“We built not only the refinery, but also a seaport, because the existing port capacities in Nigeria couldn’t handle over 60 per cent of our equipment.

“You can also imagine that we brought in 150,000 containers—a majority of them we had to go through Lome, loading and bringing them in,” Dangote explained.

He noted that transporting such vast quantities of materials was just one of the significant technical obstacles confronting the refinery.

The site, spanning more than 2,700 hectares—70 per cent of which was originally swamp land—required raising and sand-filling to ensure stability.

Construction of the facility also included installation of millions of meters of piping and cabling, and the refinery was built to process volumes and weights previously unseen on the continent.

Dangote also emphasised technical complexities, ranging from importing heavy equipment (including a single component weighing 3,000 tons) to combating equipment failures and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He added that over 67,000 workers from hundreds of nationalities were involved at the peak of constructing the refinery.

On the commercial side, Dangote recounted difficulties in securing crude oil for the refinery, saying that local suppliers often favoured exports.

This shortfall in local supply forced the company to rely on international crude oil imports from the United States, Brazil, Angola, Algeria, and other countries, further compounding operating costs in the face of fluctuating exchange rates.

He also criticised high domestic port and regulatory charges, which he said were significantly higher than those paid by foreign competitors operating just across the region.

The fragmented regulatory environment in Africa, with each country enforcing different fuel specifications, continues to hinder regional trade in refined products, he also noted.

Dangote warned that the uncoordinated standards and unfair competition—especially dumping of cheap, sometimes substandard, imported petroleum products—pose threats to the viability of local refining on the continent.

He therefore called for greater government intervention to protect emerging local industries.

Despite these obstacles, Dangote said the refinery’s ongoing ramp-up has already begun to shake up regional fuel markets, with recent exports to West African countries and plans to further expand sourcing and distribution networks.

Calling for policy alignment and stronger political will across Africa, Dangote stressed, “Without political support, there is no way for any new large refinery to be built in our lifetime.”

The challenges faced by his refinery, he suggested, are emblematic of the wider struggles amid vast potential of Africa’s industrial ambitions.

dre11:
https://leadership.ng/refinery-we-imported-150000-containers-through-lome-port-dangote/

crestedaguiyi:
That was import duty Revenue diverted by buhari to his home country . He also took a long in naija for a rail there yet they told us it was to facilitate export through our port.

Who is telling the lies

JAWBONE:
No wahala...
Make Togo self chop Nigeria money as Nigeria no serious

Seequadry:
Over 500 vessels on standby daily waiting to berth... If you can not wait like others, you go to the nearby port.....

creativejagaban:
God bless Sensible Nigerians. God bless Dangote. God bless Tinubu.

Wailers over to you.

Tinubu till 2031.

RandomFellow:
That is because of the inadequacies of the Nigerian ports. Many times, we don't like PBAT, but when you consider his infrastructural plans for the country, you can't but hope he finishes them. If he doesn't return in 2027, we don't know if the next person will care enough to continue the development.

Abuja has changed! Enugu-Otukpo in progress, Sokoto-Lagos... Many many new structures. Nigeria has not had it this good with respect to infrastructure, since the military regimes

Emergingnation:
Flashback: How Bola Tinubu spoke highly of Buhari in 2015, named PDP ‘Poverty Development Party

National leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu had during the presidential campaign in 2015, referred to President Muhammadu Buhari as the only solution for the security and economic challenges facing Nigeria.

During a mega presidential rally, the former governor of Lagos State recalled how some powerful nations in the world returned to army generals when they were challenged, saying “Major General Buhari would revive Nigeria’s economy”.

He named the current opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP as the “Poverty Development Party saying they had nothing to offer.

His words at the time were; “Every nation has a period of their own challenges, when America was challenged, they turned to one great man, their ex-military general, General Eisenhower. When the French were challenged, they turned to their general, Charles de Gaulle.

“When Britain was challenged, they turned to their general. Today, Nigeria is economically and physically challenged so we turn to General Muhammadu Buhari. He is the right man for the job. If you talk about military experience, he has it abundantly, he has courage, simplicity, he has it abundantly.

“If you talk about great determination, a combination of vision and ability to perform, honesty and integrity, he has it abundantly.

“I laugh when the incapable government, ‘Poverty Development Party’ PDP were talking. They have nothing again to say, they now want to question the qualifications of General Buhari and look for his certificate”.

Following the manifestos in 2015 which projected the APC presidential candidate as a ‘saviour’, Buhari defeated the then incumbent president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan with Nigerians expecting a total change in security and economy.

https://dailypost.ng/2021/09/01/flashback-how-bola-tinubu-spoke-highly-of-buhari-in-2015-named-pdp-poverty-development-party/

crestedaguiyi:
That was import duty Revenue diverted by buhari to his home country . He also took a long in naija for a rail there yet they told us it was to facilitate export through our port.

Who is telling the lies

stanluiz:
That because of the monopoly lagos seaport has.

If other seaport in Nigeria were equal. They won't be that high traffic in Lagos ports.

Melagros:
COMRADES, I don't know why this administration is not supporting Dangote, see how much Nigeria lost in this importation alone

RandomFellow:
That is because of the inadequacies of the Nigerian ports. Many times, we don't like PBAT, but when you consider his infrastructural plans for the country, you can't but hope he finishes them. If he doesn't return in 2027, we don't know if the next person will care enough to continue the development.

Abuja has changed! Enugu-Otukpo in progress, Sokoto-Lagos... Many many new structures. Nigeria has not had it this good with respect to infrastructure, since the military regimes

franchasng:
Aliko Dangote's wealth is Nigerian peoples collective wealth invested in one man by successive Nigerian Presidents.


Tell me what Aliko Dangote invented?

What rare or never seen business idea or solution he created or initiated to amass such wealth like other billionaires from other nations?

All the businesses that made Dangote rich were businesses other Nigerian entrepreneurs were also doing but Dangote used government policy that usually favor him because of family background to monopolize the business and force others in same sector or business to close shop.


From Cement to Sugar to Flour to Pasta to Rice to Transport to Automobile Assembly, and now Refinery, all are normal businesses which Dangote used Nigeria's federal government politics of favoritism to monopolize and force others out instead of bringing something new, an ingenuity that the whole world will marvel at and patronize like:


Elon Musk did
Mark Zuckerberg did
Bill Gates did
Larry Page did
Sergei Brim did
etc, etc



Tell me the rare thing or ingenuity Dangote brought to Nigeria or in business to become the number one entrepreneur every Nigerian government favors?


If successive Nigerian government favors any Nigerian business owner half or quarter of the government assistance various Nigerian Presidents gave to Dangote, that business man may end up competing with the likes of Tata, Musk, etc.

RandomFellow:
That is because of the inadequacies of the Nigerian ports. Many times, we don't like PBAT, but when you consider his infrastructural plans for the country, you can't but hope he finishes them. If he doesn't return in 2027, we don't know if the next person will care enough to continue the development.

Abuja has changed! Enugu-Otukpo in progress, Sokoto-Lagos... Many many new structures. Nigeria has not had it this good with respect to infrastructure, since the military regimes