The African Development Bank has made a $300 million loan available to Dangote Group.
The purpose of the loan, according to a statement released by the bank, is to enable Nigeria’s largest company boost fuel supply and fertilizer production in the country and region at large.
The funds will go into the development of a Greenfield crude oil refinery and a Greenfield fertiliser manufacturing plant.
Dangote Group is committing over $4 billion to the project which is also financed by other international creditors.
The project, the statement said, would allow Nigeria, which currently relied on imported petroleum products and fertiliser, to progressively become self-sufficient, transform into a major exporter and support job creation.
“The projects are expected to help Nigeria on forex savings of $65 billion through import substitution and provide revenues for the government (taxes and fees).
“The projects will also create over 30,000 temporary jobs during construction and 2,900 direct jobs during operations.
“The projects will complement bank’s ongoing effort to support the Federal Government in the implementation of the Agriculture Transformation Agenda,” it said.