Nigeria, the most populous African country in the world, stood still on Tuesday March 22, 2022 as President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the new 3 million Metric Tonnes capacity per annum state-of-the-art Fertiliser Urea Plant, built by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
The US$2.5 Billion project was designed to give a huge boast to Nigeria’s agricultural sector. The new Dangote Fertilizer plant, which was commissioned in the presence of some 18 state governors, ministers, captains of industries as well as prominent traditional rulers, is located at Ibeju Lekki, Lagos Free Trade Zone within the periphery of the Dangote refinery.
A visibly excited Buhari said the coming on stream of the plant would create huge opportunities in the areas of employment, trade, warehousing, transport and logistics. The Plant, according to the President “will greatly create wealth, drastically reduce poverty and secure the future of our nation”.
“In the agricultural sector, another focal point of our economic policy, we expect a boom as fertilizer is now readily available. Many Nigerians who hitherto practiced subsistence farming because of non-availability of necessary inputs can now take up agriculture as a business. We expect a rise of new breed of agropreneurs who will add value to farming and make the nation self-sufficient in food production,” the president said.
President Buhari described Dangote as the biggest employer of labour after the federal government.
In an earlier welcome address, President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, described the new plant as a game changer, as it has the capacity to make Nigeria become self-sufficient in fertilizer production, with spare capacity to export to other markets in Africa and the rest of the world.
He added that already Dangote fertilizer has reached the markets in the USA, Brazil and Mexico.
According to him, the fertiliser plant, which is the largest granulated urea fertiliser complex in Africa, occupies 500 hectares of land, was built at a cost of US$2.5 billion, and is expected to reduce drastically the level of unemployment and youth restiveness in the country through employment opportunities. To him, the plant is expected to generate new jobs with top quality fertiliser being available and in sufficient quantities for the farmers.
He stated that agriculture accounts for 20 percent of the nation’s GDP and that the new plant was an ambitious project that would provide both direct and indirect employment, thereby reducing youth restiveness
Dangote Fertiliser, according to him, would ensure emergence of farmers in the country, providing hundreds of jobs and ushering in a new era of agricultural entrepreneurs (agroprenuers). “This breed of agroprenuers will take to farming on large scales, providing food and raw materials for our industries,” he added.
Dangote stated that the fertiliser plant is rolling out with innovations that would transform the agricultural sector in the form of extension services for small and medium scale farmers. It has set up a well-equipped fertiliser soil testing laboratory to enable it analyze and identify soil deficiency and the appropriate fertiliser blend.
Studies have shown that applying the right fertiliser to the soil will boost productivity. This service is to cover all the geopolitical zones, and will surely change the agricultural landscape in the country by transforming farming into a lucrative profession.
“Dangote Fertiliser is working with Farmer Associations, Corporate Farmers, NPK Blenders, NGO/development partners and State Governments all over Nigeria, and governments across Africa and beyond who are looking for sustainable approach to improving soil quality and farm yields,” he explained.
Speaking at the occasion, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele said Nigeria is indeed indebted to Aliko Dangote for his giant stride to add value to Nigeria’s economy.
According to him “It is great that a Nigerian has taken not just this great initiative of helping to solve our perennial problem of importing petrochemical products including fertiliser but has taken advantage of the emerging huge market opportunity presented by recent global developments.”
The CBN Governor described the fertiliser plant as timely, considering the recent developments in the global market, where prices of wheat, fertiliser and crude oil spiked by over 20 percent, following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.
“In addition to the lessons we learnt from the protectionist actions of countries during the early days of COVID-19, this investment is again a glaring testament to the foresight and tireless efforts of Mr. President in encouraging domestic production of items that can be produced in Nigeria, especially agriculture. This would not only help to enable greater productivity of our agricultural sector but also help in insulating Nigerian farmers from depending on imported fertiliser,” Emefiele stated.
He recalled that prior to 2015 when President Buhari resumed office, Nigeria had a fertiliser shortfall of about 3.5 million tonnes per annum, compared to the over 6 million tonnes per annum required in the country.
“Then President Buhari inaugurated the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative and charged them with resolving this problem. With sustained efforts, other indigenous companies like Indorama and Notore with a combined capacity of over 2.5 million tonnes per annum have tried to match the market demand, yet the country still faced a huge shortfall of fertiliser supply. Today, Nigeria is self-sufficient in the production of urea, and we are also the leading producer of urea in the African continent,” he added.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, commended Alhaji Aliko Dangote for always blazing the trail, noting that the state government was happy to be hosting many of his businesses.
He added that, “with the largest fertiliser plant in Africa in Lagos and the largest refinery in the world coming soon, there is nobody that would not be proud of Alhaji Dangote.”
Nigeria’s Agricultural Minister, Niyi Adebayo, disclosed that the US$2.5 billion Dangote Fertiliser plant will be beneficial for Nigeria’s food-related exports as Africa ventures into the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
“Access to good quality fertiliser is pivotal to ensuring our food security objectives are met. This facility has the capacity to produce 3 billion metric tonnes of urea fertiliser per annum in phase one alone.
“This will go a long way in improving the fertiliser gap (FG) and improving the soil. One of the goals for FG is for Nigerian to be self-sufficient in food production and also be a net exporter of food and value-added products.
“The Dangote fertiliser plant goes a long way in realizing this vision not just for Nigeria but for the entire continent. It has the capacity not just to meet Nigeria’s needs, but at its current capacity, it will earn millions of dollars from exports. It will also help with the unemployment problem,” he added.
The minister noted that since the advent of the AfCFTA, cross border trade has become more attractive. AfCFTA has the capacity to boost intra-African trade and is expected to integrate the African market, consisting of 1.3 billion consumers with an aggregate GDP of US$3.4 trillion.
He stated that as the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria has the potential to increase its trading capacity, generation of foreign investment, and encouraging other companies to follow in this space, noting that the new fertiliser plant at the Lekki FTZ has also brought development to the area.
A-Z Magazine recalls that Aliko Dangote had promised in 2017 in the twilight of Buhari’s administration that his company would invest US$4.6 billion in nation’s agricultural sector in the next five years.
He listed sugar, rice, tomatoes and oil palm as some of the agricultural sectors where the monies would be invested.
He also said that improving technology in agriculture would guarantee improved inputs (seeds, fertilisers), and also help farmers improve yields.
According to him, if agriculture should succeed in the country, local farmers must be young and active, which means the involvement of youths.
“We need to improve human capital in every aspect of the farm value chain.
“There is need for infrastructure to be in place to enable farmers transport their produce from farm to markets.”
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, and his conglomerate Dangote Group, have been reported to be responsible for over 10 percent of Nigeria’s gross domestic product, GDP.
The report, published by TIME Magazine in 2018, said Aliko Dangote was responsible for over 10 percent of Nigeria’s GDP, a figure supported by outside Economists.
This suggests that Dangote Group has investments worth more than US$60 billion in Nigeria, ranging from cement to food products, and now, to oil and gas.
The billionaire also runs arguably the biggest cement company in Africa, with operating revenue of N240 billion as at Q2 of 2018 and a market cap of N3.62 trillion (over US$10 billion).
Dangote Cement is also the biggest company, by market cap, on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, ahead of Nestle and Nigerian Breweries combined.
It is on record that Aliko Dangote is the founder and President/Chief Executive of the Dangote Group, the largest conglomerate in West Africa.
The Group currently has a presence in 17 African countries and is a market leader in cement on the continent. One of the Group’s subsidiaries, Dangote Cement Plc, is the largest listed company in West Africa and the first Nigerian company to join the Forbes Global 2000 Companies list. The Group has diversified into other sectors of the Nigerian economy including agriculture.
Internationally, Dangote sits on the board of the Corporate Council on Africa and is a member of the Steering Committee of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative, the Clinton Global Initiative, the McKinsey Advisory Council, and the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum. He was named Co-chair of the US-Africa Business Center in September 2016 by the US Chamber of Commerce.
In April 2017, he joined the Board of Directors of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, which is helping countries build the systems necessary to provide health services to their people.
A dedicated philanthropist, Dangote made an initial endowment of US$1.25 billion to the Dangote Foundation in March 2014, enabling it to scale up its work in health, education and economic empowerment. In addition, he is collaborating with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fight polio.
He is also on the Board of ONE, the anti-poverty group, co-founded by Bono.
A graduate of Al-Azahar University in Cairo, Egypt, Dangote began his business career in 1978, trading in rice, sugar and cement, before he ventured into full-scale manufacturing.
In 2013, Forbes listed him as the ‘Most Powerful Man in Africa.’ In April 2014, TIME Magazine listed him among its 100 ‘Most Influential People in the World.’ He also made the list of CNBC’s ‘Top 25 Businessmen in the World’ that changed and shaped the century.
