By Tosin Ayinde

Last Monday, the world’s largest single train refinery was commissioned in Lagos by his Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari. The refinery, which has been described as Africa’s biggest, in terms of investment, has the capacity to produce about 650,000 barrels per day while also delivering millions of litres of refined petroleum products daily. The celebration of this epoch-making milestone reached its crescendo when the news broke that the oil-processing facility can optimally cater to Nigeria’s fuel supply needs.

This singular development has continued to spark various debates and conversations as to the veracity of this claim. Whether false or true, the refinery has commenced operations and Nigerians are expectant of the desired results. Beyond reducing oil import dependence and meeting Nigeria’s energy needs, the Dangote Refinery is a huge blessing to Nigeria’s ailing economy which is about to resuscitate due to the refinery’s umbrella support which covers all allied industries.

For example,  industries that rely on petroleum products like diesel to power their operations, the refinery will be providing the required support that will enable them function more optimally through the availability of petroleum products at most affordable prices. And it’s simple, when the supply is higher than demand, petroleum products are likely to come down, and where there is a balance between these two, the availability of the products will stabilise the prices. The availability of petroleum products will also balance the issues of fuel scarcity which usually fosters increased prices of fuel and diesel, and most times, panic buying which is most hazardous. More importantly, the availability of petroleum products across the country will increase the competitiveness of industries in the global market while also boosting local industrial capabilities.

Also, the Dangote Refinery provided an opportunity for a lot of businesses to grow during its construction stage, and upon its full operations, more industries are in the process of benefiting. For example, businesses in the telecoms, housing, and manufacturing will benefit immensely from its operations.

On the issue of job creation, the Dangote Refinery, during its construction phase employed about 40,000 workers across engineering, construction, manufacturing, and operations. 29,000 of these workers were Nigerians while 11,000 were expatriates. In full operation, it is projected that the refinery will employ about 250,000 workers.

Bayo Onanuga, in his report, titled: ‘The foolish man and the mega refinery complex’ wrote: The world’s Largest Single-Train 650,000 barrels per day petroleum refinery will be able to meet the total power requirement of Ibadan DisCo of 860,316 MWh covering five States including Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara and Ekiti. Also, the refinery, according to its fact sheet, can meet 100 percent of the Nigerian requirement of all refined products, including Gasoline,Diesel, Kerosene, and Aviation Jet. It will also be able to produce surplus of each of these products for export.

Meiza Nigeria