President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday commissioned the Dangote Fertiliser Plant located in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos.
The $2.5bn plant is Africa’s largest Granulated Urea Fertiliser complex and occupies 500 hectares of land in the Lekki Free Trade Zone. It has the capacity to produce three million metric tonnes (mt) of urea yearly in its first phase.
“This is a demonstration of enhancing the socio-development of the country,” the President said, as he commended the Fertiliser team.
He said the plant would help to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on fertilizer imports and create employment while acknowledging that it was a validation of his administration’s plan to achieve food sufficiency in Africa’s most populous country.
“I am confident that the investment in the plant will replicate the group’s earlier exploit in the cement sector as Dangote Cement holds an enviable record as the continent’s largest cement producer with footprints in ten other African countries,” the Nigerian leader said.
The plant is also projected to add well over $400 million in foreign exchange to the Nigerian economy from the exportation of the products to other Africa countries and beyond.
While commending the Dangote Group for its achievements in the economy, President Buhari said the group is the second-largest employer of labour in the country, after the federal government.
He noted that the company is already noted that the fertiliser company was already exporting its product to other countries such as the USA, Mexico, India and Brazil.
