Dangote Refinery: The refinery that proves Nigeria can build the future

Dangote Refinery: The refinery that proves Nigeria can build the future 

By Reno Omokri

 

The Dangote Refinery is not up to date. It is up to tomorrow. It is the future of Nigeria. In the past, shippers complained about bringing goods to Nigeria and leaving with their ships empty. However, in the one year that this refinery has been operational, over 650 vessels have left the Dangote Terminal, with 60% of those maritime exports going to the United States, and the rest going to Brazil, Argentina, and other nations.

And speaking of the Dangote Terminal, Dangote Refinery built its own shipping port terminals. They do not disturb the traffic in public ports. Their ports have the most modern RORO facilities.

Then you move into the refinery itself, and nothing can prepare you for the sheer size and scale of what Alhaji Aliko Dangote has done, not for himself, but for Nigeria.

He has transformed the Lekki Free Trade Zone, initiated by President Tinubu, into the most valuable commercial real estate in West Africa.

There are almost 100 tanks, sometimes holding as much as 120 million litres of product individually. From every barrel of crude oil received, the Dangote Refinery transforms it into at least twelve refined products.

In Europe, the highest grade of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) is Euro 5 petrol, while the standard for diesel is Euro 5 diesel.

Both specifications comply with the European standards on emissions, which require diesel fuel to have a maximum sulfur content of 10 parts per million for diesel, while petrol must have a lower than 10 ppm.

The Dangote Refinery delivers the Euro 6 standard for both products.

Do you now see why I said they are up to tomorrow, rather than up to date? No country on Earth can reject Dangote products on the basis of product quality! They go above and beyond your standards.

Then the other thing that amazes you when you enter this project site, which covers 2635 hectares (to put that in perspective, that is 10% of the landmass of the nation of Saint Lucia), is the almost startling number of young people you see gainfully employed.

Nigerian youths are running the Dangote Refinery. The place is energetic and the energy is kinetic. And there is an ethnic mix. He probably has more Nigerian staff outside his own native Northwest geopolitical zone.

At the Central Laboratory, a commendable 60% of the staff are women. You see the brightest hijab-wearing PhD holders, then you turn around and see blue jeans-wearing females with degrees from Europe and America.

Unknown to many, the Dangote Refinery does not just generate its own electricity but is also responsible for producing 10% of all the electricity generated in Nigeria.

The refinery itself generates 500 megawatts, while the fertiliser plant produces an additional 150 MW.

Unlike many other projects in the oil and gas industry, the Dangote Refinery has excellent relations with its host community.

The Dangote Group built the roads in the community. The children of the community get scholarships in their hundreds. And the free tuition is not a Greek gift, as they are required to work for the Dangote Refinery. They could if they want, but it is not mandatory. Their training is a free gift. I know the term free gift is a tautology, but it is necessary to emphasise that and differentiate it from Greek gifts.

And their parents benefit, too. The area is a fishing community, and so the Dangote Refinery has taken environmental preservation to the next level. Waste is recycled or eliminated in an environmentally friendly way, so the fish and other fauna are not affected.

But the pièce de résistance is the refinery’s Control Room. It took my breath away—the technology is out of this world!

You have a bank of several cinema-sized TV monitors spanning the length of a football field. And you can see every nook and cranny of the refinery. Not only can you see in real time, but you can control what your eyes see at the speed of thought!

 

Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents