BUGI CITY

The Dangote Industries Limited 17 billion-dollar refinery project will create over 300,000 direct and indirect jobs by the first quarter of 2019, the Chief Operating Officer, Mr Olakunle Alake, has said. Alake made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday, adding that the refinery, petrochemicals and fertiliser plants were in one location. He said the project would be the single largest stream in the world. 

“The refinery and fertiliser projects will create job opportunities for the communities and Nigerians when it becomes operational. “The refinery will have a refining capacity of about 650,000 barrels of crude a day,’’ he said. Alake said the project would force down the price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) in the country and save money spent on importation. He said that projects such as these would optimise government revenue and wean Nigeria from relying solely on oil. According to him, the best way to diversify Nigeria’s economy is through agriculture and the fertiliser plant is in line with that goal. The chief operating officer said that the 98 per cent of basic engineering on the fertiliser plant had been executed, while the construction had progressed by 30 per cent. “ By the time we finish our gas pipeline it will be able to generate about 12,000mw which can be exported to other African countries. “We will have the capacity to store four billion litres of products and load 2,680 trucks per day. “The project will aid the country with about 7.5 billion dollars forex savings on importation. 

“It will also generate five billion dollars forex earnings from savings and another 5.5 billion dollars export earnings,’’ he said. Alake gave assurance that there would be markets for the refined products, saying that only three countries in Africa had effective and functional refineries, while others imported. Alake said the projects would help the country save five billion dollars on oil importation when it became operational in 2019. 

“By the time we complete this project, there will be opportunity to take on agriculture and say bye to poverty because there will be jobs; no sector has more job potential than agriculture. “Though the project is an ambitious one but when completed it will give Nigeria a new economic direction in its quest for economic diversification.’’ He said excess products would be exported to give Nigeria the much needed foreign exchange. 

“That is when diversification starts,’’ he said. Alake said, however, that access to foreign exchange posed serious challenges to the projects. “We aim to complete the projects within the time frame to assist in easing the forex problem. “We appeal to the Federal Government to support these private initiatives by providing funding for the projects. “However, government through the Bank of Industry schemes has given us a credit facility of N50 billion to develop the fertiliser plant. “We have also gotten another N75 billion approval for the refinery, which we have not yet accessed,’’ Alake said. Read more at: 

Source

By Chinedu Adonu and Ifunanya Ozougwu ENUGU – Controversial Spiritual leader and pro-Biafra activist, Prophet Anthony Nwoko has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of allegedly fuelling the agitation for the actualisation of the Biafran republic indirectly through his anti- Igbo polices and utterances. Nwoko also took a swipe at fiery Catholic priest, Rev. Fr Ejike Mbaka for playing politics with his priestly works and asked him to relocate to Buhari’s home state Katsina, so that he would have enough time to engage in “false prophecies” for the president. “Mbaka should relocate to Katsina State to have time for prophecies for Buhari. He is not a prophet of the Holy God,” he said. Nwoko said that although successive administrations in the country had been anti- Igbo, none was more pronounced that Buhari’s regime. Nnamdi Kanu arrive the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, June 20, 2016. Prophet Nowoko who had prophesied that President Buhari’s second coming would not bring any relief but misery to the nation spoke in an interview with newsmen in Enugu. According to him, President Buhari was indirectly plotting to resurrect Biafra through his policies and utterances. “Buhari’s preference for those that voted for him, collapsed infrastructure in South East, lopsided appointments and the high-handedness in dealing with armless separatist agitators in Southern parts of the country by security personnel are factors that further fuel agitation for Biafra. “Buhari emerged the second time to bury Nigeria and resurrect Biafra. His second coming is to destroy the nation and resurrect Biafra and it has come to pass,” he said. He further said that contrary to efforts by the Federal Government to suppress and intimidate pro-Biafra groups, the objective of establishing Biafra had already been realized as “Biafra has come to be.” Nwoko insisted that no amount of ingenuity in financial and economic management would save the country from the current economic recession, socio-political strife in view of security threats from herdsmen, insurgents and militants. Also, in his message entitled, “Spiritual Message for the state of Biafra nation and why Nigeria is facing problems,” Nwoko stated that Nigeria as a nation was a ‘fraud’ by colonial masters which was doomed to crash, warning that it was in the interest of political leaders to plan for peaceful separation. He warned religious personalities and “big churches” to stop deceiving the unsuspecting citizens with fake prophecies and lies, saying that the judgment of God would soon come down on them for using the vineyard of the Lord to enrich themselves. Nwoko also, spoke on the long detention of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. “Spiritually, I want to declare to the world that I have seen Nnamdi Kanu in the spirit many times. He, Kanu is spiritually hale and hearty and nothing will happen to him. He has come to join hands and build the land, Biafra full of milk and honey,” he added, even as he urged the Federal Government to release Kanu to avert more problems for the nation. Source