According to a spokesperson for the president, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will officially open the multibillion-dollar Dangote oil refinery in two weeks, allowing the facility to begin producing for the first time since construction began in 2016.
The 650,000 barrels per day refinery being built by billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote’s Dangote Group is seen as a way to replace Nigeria’s dependency on imports for almost all of its refined petroleum products. Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa.
Buhari will inaugurate the refinery, which is close to Lagos, on May 22, a week before he is scheduled to leave office after serving the maximum two terms permitted by the constitution. A Dangote spokeswoman confirmed the commissioning’s schedule but withheld more information.
Costs for the Dangote refinery increased to $19 billion from initial estimates of between $12 billion and $14 billion, after years of delays.