Outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery at the Lekki free trade zone area of the commercial hub Lagos, in an event attended by some West African heads of state. Worth $20 billion the giant refinery built by the Dangote Group, which is owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, aims to produce up to 53 million liters of gasoline per day, as well as 4 million liters of diesel and 2 million liters of aviation jet fuel daily.
“There will be constant availability of high-quality fuels for our transportation sector, the refinery will also make available to our industries vital raw materials for a wide range of manufacturing,” said Dangote, who partly financed the construction of the refinery. Around 50% of the funds used to build the refinery came from Dangote’s equity investment while the other half came from debt finance from banks such as Access and Zenith banks.