Buhari impressed with Dangote’s $2.5bn fertiliser plant, says Nigeria set to witness agric boom

President Muhammadu Buhari today commissioned the new 3 million Metric Tonnes capacity per annum state-of-the-art Dangote Fertilizer Urea Plant, with an emphatic assurance that the project would give a huge fillip to Nigeria’s agricultural sector, which revitalization has been a focal point of his administration’s economic policy.

The new plant, which he commissioned in the presence of some 18 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 President 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”.

He said, “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.”

According to him, the federal government is now determined more than ever before to provide enabling environment for private sector investors to thrive, adding that his government would continue to improve on infrastructure, power, security and enact relevant laws and regulations that would drive investments in the economy.

President Buhari reiterated that part of the government’s effort in this regard was the partnership with the private sector government via a tax credit scheme, in the rehabilitation of roads across Nigeria under the Presidential Order No. 7.

“As we all know, good roads contribute to easy movement of goods and services across the nation, thus reducing cost of doing business and improving productivity. We are also rehabilitating our railway lines and building new ones to lessen the burden on our roads and create more effective multi-model transportation networks,” he added.

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 fertiliser 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 Fertilizer plant, which is the largest granulated Urea fertilizer complex in Africa, occupies 500 hectares of land, was built at a cost of $2.5 Billion, and is expected to reduce drastically 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 fertilizer being available and in sufficient quantities for the farmers.

He stated that agriculture accounts for 20 per cent 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 Fertilizer, according to him, would ensure emergence of farmers in the country, providing hundreds of jobs and ushering in a new era of agricultural entrepreneurs, (agropreneurs). “This breed of agropreneurs will take to farming on large scales, providing food and raw materials for our industries,” he added.

By Daily Post Staff

https://dailypost.ng/2022/03/22/buhari-impressed-with-dangotes-2-5bn-fertiliser-plant-says-nigeria-set-to-witness-agric-boom/