Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, admitted on Thursday that he may not have attempted his $20 billion Dangote Refinery project if he had fully understood its scale and challenges at the outset. Speaking while receiving a delegation from the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Lagos branch at the refinery in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, Dangote highlighted the immense scope and logistical hurdles, including:
- Construction on swampy terrain
- Manual clearing of thousands of trees
- Dredging 65 million cubic metres of sand from 20 km offshore
- Sand-filling that lasted 18 months
Despite initial plans to rely on 50,000 foreign workers, the project ultimately used only 12,000–14,000 expatriates, with 85% of commissioning handled by Nigerians, including engineers, welders, and fitters.
“Today, we are our own EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractors. We are building this country ourselves,” said Dangote. He reaffirmed his commitment to developing local engineering capacity: “Even when we don’t have enough jobs to give, we must still train people. Skills are assets—whether used here or abroad.”
NSE Praises Refinery as a National Asset
NSE Lagos Chairman, Mrs. Olukorede Kesha, described the refinery as an engineering marvel and applauded the high involvement of Nigerian professionals in the project. “If we have more of this kind of development in Nigeria, unemployment and poverty would be in the past,” she said. The delegation also toured the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, calling it “an enormous national asset.”
