Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele has called on more Nigerians to be like Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the Chairman of Dangote Group.
The CBN Governor made the call, Sunday, during a working visit to the industrial complex of Dangote Petrochemicals and Refinery Company in Epe, Lagos State.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote led the tour in company of Mr. Femi Otedola and several senior officials of the Dangote Group. Also present was Deputy CBN Governor (Economic Policy), Dr. Sarah Alade.
Addressing members of the press after the tour was finished, the CBN Governor said Nigerians should support Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
He said “Today these 3 projects, we are costing them at about $14 bln, out of which he is contributing about $7 billion. $14 billion is about N2.8 trillion. And I think we must congratulate a man like Aliko Dangote for this very laudable project.
“I have come here to see and to tell Nigerians that we need to support people like Aliko Dangote for what they are doing for Nigeria. This is a time we are talking about diversifying our economy away from oil. Fertilizer output is Ammonia and Urea. The output from the Petrochemicals is Polypropylene and Polyethylene. The output from Refinery are the various final products for the Petroleum sector.
Continuing the CBN governor said when the projects comes on line in 2017 and 2018, Nigeria will enjoy huge foreign exchange savings as 35% to 40% of our import needs will be eliminated.
He projected that by completion, the Dangote Group will be able to sell $6 billion to the CBN on a yearly basis. This computation is based on the value of export products that the Ammonia plant, the Petrochemicals company and Refinery will earn by the time they are all on stream by Q3, 2018.
The CBN Governor said when Dangote first approached the apex bank for support in 2014, he was still an operator, and that the CBN committed to help him on his futuristic vision to develop Nigeria.
Emefiele added, “More Nigerians need to think like Dangote.”
Alhaji Aliko Dangote said the reasons he embarked on this project was to “stop importation, diversify the economy and earn foreign exchange”.
He said today, Dangote Cement does not need foreign exchange as it sourced most of its raw materials from the local environment.
He said the vision for the petrochemicals and refinery was the same, as by the time the plant is operational, it will source its local materials (crude oil and gas) from Nigeria. Noting that the current FX currency requirement was to import equipment.
Dangote added, “Currently, Nigeria imports 100% of its fertilizer needs but by the time we are finished, we will be the biggest exporter in Africa.”