The much-talked-about Dangote Petrochemical Complex and Dangote Fertiliser Complex, which are seated on 2,635 hectares of land on the Lekki free trade zone in Lagos, would reverse Nigeria’s economy. This is according to Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB).
Addressing the media, including BizWatch Nigeria, during a tour to the Dangote Petrochemical and Dangote Fertiliser site alongside the projects’ pioneer Aliko Dangote, and his billionaire friend Femi Otedola, the AfDB President lamented how Nigeria’s economy has depended largely on importation for consumption purposes over the years.
Adesina said. “Africa today has probably about $38 trillion worth of natural resources -from oil to gas to minerals to metals. Right agriculture, blue economy, everything else. But we keep exporting raw materials here.
And the wealth of nations, according to my understanding, is very clear that those countries that export raw materials will become poor. And the countries that export value-added products eventually become rich because they dominate the top of the value chain.
“What has been a challenge for Nigeria is that the country imports a lot of petroleum products. We sell crude and we import high products.
“It means the price is high, it means it is unstable, it is highly volatile. It also means that you lose a lot of foreign exchange, which is not good for the economy.”
Heaping praises on Dangote for the projects, the AfDB boss stated that by reversing Nigeria’s economy, the country would be self-sufficient with urea fertiliser and petrochemicals, such that it would be big on exportation as well.
“When you industrialise, you create jobs. And when you are industrialising, what you are doing is import substitution. And by doing this, you have successfully captured the entire market share.
“What this alone will do is to reverse that. Going forward, Nigeria would become self-sufficient in the production of all these things and then become a globally competitive player in Africa and also in the world.
“It is quite remarkable when you look at how much we actually import, and how much we would be exporting,” he added.
By: Okusanya Feyisayo
