Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari was on hand at a ceremony in Lagos on March 22 to inaugurate the new 3 million mt/y Dangote urea plant, according to a Bloomberg report.
“This fertilizer plant is expected to further advance our administration’s drive toward achieving self-sufficiency in food production in the country,” he said. “The nation also stands to gain extensively in earnings of foreign-exchange from the excess production and exports from the plant.”
The $2.5 billion plant is owned by billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote, believed to be Africa’s richest person, who is investing $19 billion in projects on the continent, including the fertilizer plant and a 650,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery outside Lagos. The refinery, which is expected to be completed in September, will supply domestic consumers and markets elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.