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Dangote refinery, fertilizer plant will ensure energy, food security – Minister
Nasiru Yusuf
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the coming on stream of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals as well as the Dangote Fertilizer Plant will help to ensure energy and food security in the country.
KANO FOCUS reports that the Minister made the remarks in Lagos on Sunday while touring the sprawling complexes of the refinery and the fertilizer plant in Ibeju-Lekki, according to a statement issued by Segun Adeyemi Special Assistant to the President (Media) office of the Minister of Information and Culture.
“We must not fail to appreciate the fact that it’s not just that we will be self-sufficient in terms of food security and energy security, but the quality of our refined products and fertilizer will be world-class,’’ he said.
Alhaji Mohammed, who was accompanied by 25 journalists, said while the refinery will ensure the availability of the highest quality Euro V Grade petroleum products, the fertilizer plant is producing granulated urea, which is of the highest quality and which does not become sticky and cause loss of value to the farmers.
He said the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery, which is expected to be commissioned this year, will be a game changer in terms of employment generation, contribution to the GDP and conservation of foreign exchange.
“Gentlemen, based on what we have heard here today with regards to the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery, it would be a game changer once it comes on stream in terms of employment generation. The refinery as of today employs 35,000 people everyday.
“There will be huge value addition that will contribute to the increase in GDP, conservation of foreign exchange as there will be no more importation of petroleum products, generation of foreign exchange through export of finished product, availability of petroleum products thus ending petrol queues, and attraction of foreign capital investments,” the Minister said.
He said the Dangote Fertilizer Plant, which was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari last month, has made Nigeria the leading producer of urea in Africa.
“With the coming on stream of the Dangote Fertilizer Plant, Nigeria is now self-sufficient in the production of urea. In fact, Nigeria is now the leading producer of urea in Africa. The Dangote Fertilizer plant is already exporting to the US, India, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.
We were fortunate to witness a ship being loaded with urea for export to Argentina during our visit today,” Alhaji Mohammed said..
He said currently the fertilizer plant provides 1,500 direct jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs.
The Minister, who commended the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, for boosting investor confidence in Nigeria, said the
Federal Government will continue to create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
“Under this Administration, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has implemented over 150 reforms, moving Nigeria up 39 places on the World Bank Doing Business index since 2016. Mr. President also signed the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA 2020) – Nigeria’s most significant business legislation in three decades.
“The result of this favourable business environment is the birth of new businesses such as the $2.5 billion Dangote Fertilizer Plant that will produce 3 million metric tonnes of urea every year; the 650,000 barrels per day oil refinery due to open later this year; Lekki Deep Sea Port, one of the most modern sea ports in West Africa; BUA’s 3 million metric tonnes cement plant; the 5,000 barrels per day Modular Refinery in Ibigwe, Imo State, and three more modular refineries to be commissioned before May 2023 in Edo and Bayelsa states, just to mention a few,” he said.
The Executive Director, Strategy Capital Projects and Portfolio Development, Dangote Group, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, who conducted the Minister round the two complexes, said 75% hydraulic testing of the refinery as well as 70% of electrical cable fitting have been completed preparatory to the completion of the refinery in the fourth quarter of this year.
He said the refinery, which boasts of 4.742 billion litres storage capacity, will serve as a strategic reserve for the country.
Mr. Edwin said 75% of the products of the refinery (petrol, kerosene, aviation fuel and diesel) will be dispatched through the sea, by which products could be transported to Calabar, Warri, Lagos and Port Harcourt.
The refinery is being built at a cost of $19 billion while the fertilizer plant costs $2.5 Billion.
Aminu Abdullahi
All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the last Saturday gubernatorial election, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna on Tuesday rejected the declaration of Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party NNPP as the winner of the poll in Kano state.
KANO FOCUS reports that Gawuna in his first public appearance after the poll, spoke during a press conference by the party in the state capital.
The Deputy Governor who admitted that power comes from Almighty Allah, however said he aligned with the positions of the party which among others gave INEC 7 days ultimatum to declared the governorship poll inconclusive.
Gawuna who was in the company of party leaders, said it was astonishing that with the same election, 16 of the House of Assembly elections held same day and same conditions were declared inconclusive by INEC.
Meanwhile, the APC in Kano has rejected the announcement of Abba Kabir Yusif of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as winner of the just concluded governorship election in Kano calling for immediate review of the election result by the electoral umpire within seven days.
The APC chairman, who was represented by the party’s legal adviser, Abdul Adamu Fagge insists that the election should be declared inconclusive because the cancelled votes were greater than the margin between the first and the second parties of NNPP and APC respectively as provided by the Electoral Act.
Fagge said that there was no way the election could be declared conclusive with over 270,000 votes cancelled which a margin shows is bigger than the winner’s votes.
The party also drew attention to the cancellation of sixteen House of Assembly elections in the state, sighting violence as the reason, while the same votes were considered in collating the governorship election.
It expressed dismay saying the two elections took place same day, same time, same places and under the same circumstances.
Fagge said, “based on section 65 of the Electoral Laws 2022, we have written to INEC to revisit and cancel the hasty, wrong and selfish declaration of the NNPP as winner of the elections, and declared the conduct inconclusive”.
He said they have since written to INEC to within seven days revisit the elections based on the provisions of the Electoral laws and declare it Inconclusive.
The Legal Adviser explained that INEC Returning Officer, acted not on the only basis of the provisions of laws.
Mukhtar Yahaya Usman
The Kano State Government has lifted the dawn-to-dusk curfew imposed in the state.
KANO FOCUS reports that the state government on Monday imposed the curfew with a view to avoiding a breakdown of law and order.
The order followed tensions generated from the collation of results of the governorship and state Assembly elections.
The state Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Muhammad Garba, made the announcement lifting the curfew in a statement issued on Monday night.
He said the decision to lift the curfew followed a careful review of the situation and the relative calm throughout the state.
The commissioner called on commercial banks, public servants and the people in the state to continue their normal activities.
Aminu Abdullahi
The New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, has defeated the All Progressive Party to win Saturday’s governorship election in Kano State.
KANO FOCUS reports that Abba Kabir Yusuf of the NNPP was declared the winner with 1,019,602 votes against his closest rival, APC’s candidate, Nasir Gawuna, who polled 890,705 votes.
The Independent National Electoral Commission Returning officer, Prof Ahmad Doko Ibrahim, announced Yusuf as the winner of the Kano gubernatorial election on Monday morning.
The declaration brought intense electioneering and Saturday election in Kano to an end as two ‘king makers’ – former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and incumbent Governor Abdullahi Ganduje – in the state tested their might. While Kwankwaso backed Yusuf, Ganduje routed for Gawuna, his deputy, to succeed him.
Yusuf’s profile
Born to the family of Malam Kabiru Yusuf and Malama Khadijatul-Naja’atu in Gaya Local Government Area of Kano State on 5th January 1963, Abba attended Sumaila primary school between 1968 and 1975.
He then proceeded to Government Secondary School Dawakin Tofa and later moved to Government Secondary school Lautai in Gumel where he completed his secondary education in 1980.
Abba Kabir Yusuf bagged a National Diploma (ND) from the Federal Polytechnic Mubi in 1985 and a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Civil Engineering from Kaduna Polytechnic in 1989.
He later obtained a postgraduate diploma in management and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Bayero University, Kano.
Gida-Gida’s grandfather, Alhaji Yusuf Bashari, under whom the NNPP governorship candidate started his Islamic education, was Danmakwaiyon Kano and a former District Head of Gaya.
Abba Gida-Gida began his career with the Kano State Water Resources Engineering and Construction Agency (WRECA), Kano State Water Board and later moved to the state Ministry of Water Resources where he held various positions.
He was appointed as Personal Assistant to the then Kano State Governor, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso and later Special Assistant (Administration) between 1999 – 2003.
Abba worked again with Kwankwaso from 2003 to 2006 when the former governor of Kano State was appointed Minister of Defence.
He served as the Special Assistant to the Special Adviser to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Darfur/Somalia until 2007.
Abba was also appointed by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua as the chairman, Governing Board of the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Ondo State from 2009 to 2011.
During Kwankwaso’s second tenure in office, Abba was appointed as the First Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to the governor; and subsequently the state’s Commissioner for Works, Housing and Transport.
The closely contested 2019 governorship election in Kano between the PDP and the ruling APC brought Abba Gida-Gida to the limelight.
Kwankwaso’s anointed candidate contested against the incumbent Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in an election that was declared inconclusive; but lost after a rerun.
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