Kenyan President William Ruto and the President/Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, yesterday joined African leaders to break ground on a $16 billion petroleum refinery and petrochemicals complex in Lamu, Kenya.
Designed to process 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day, the Dangote East Africa Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals will serve markets across Eastern Africa.
Dangote said the project would be delivered within 40 months.
He said the company had begun mobilising equipment and technical resources and would draw on lessons from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos.
He said 30 per cent equity in the refinery was being offered to East African countries, opening the project to regional ownership as part of a strategy to strengthen energy security and retain more of Africa’s wealth within the continent.
Kenya and Rwanda had already moved to take up the offer.
The refinery was designed as a regional asset serving Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other markets.
‘This refinery is therefore not simply about one country. It is about a region,’ he said.
Ruto described the project, put at about KSh2 trillion, as a ‘generational undertaking’ for Kenya and the wider region.
The integrated complex will also generate up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity and produce polypropylene and base oil.
He said current projections envisage about 60,000 direct and indirect jobs, with the construction phase alone expected to inject more than KSh2 billion monthly in wages into the economy.
He directed technical institutions and universities to prepare welders, technicians, engineers and managers, insisting that young people from Lamu and neighbouring communities must have a fair chance to compete.
Dangote said qualified Lamu graduates would be offered opportunities in the development, while more than 1,000 young people from the host communities would receive technical and vocational training at a school the Group would establish.
‘We want young Kenyans and East Africans with skills here. We want local businesses to become suppliers. We want entrepreneurs around this project,’ he said.
He said its success would be measured not by the height of its towers or the barrels it processed but by the skills young Kenyans acquired, the businesses local entrepreneurs built and the livelihoods of communities.
‘Industrialisation must have a human face. It must create dignity. It must create jobs. It must create opportunities. It must create hope,’ he said.
The industrialist said Africa could no longer export crude oil, minerals and agricultural commodities while importing finished products derived from them. ‘We must retain more value here at home in Africa,’ he said.
The Governor of Lamu, Issa Timamy, condemned attempts to stop the project through litigation, saying those who had gone to court did not represent the aspirations of Lamu people.
He insisted the project would go ahead, but stressed the need to protect Lamu’s mangroves, fishing grounds, coastline and cultural heritage.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo led other African leaders in celebrating Dangote’s emergence as a leading champion of industrialisation, recalling his evolution from trading and importation into large-scale manufacturing.
He said governments must create the right environment for indigenous entrepreneurs to invest and compete at scale.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Africa could not continue exporting raw materials while surrendering the jobs and wealth from processing.
He backed the regional ownership proposal as a smart way for East Africa to participate as an owner, not merely a market.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the refinery would strengthen East Africa’s energy security.
‘East Africa is not only a market. It is a place to produce, to build and to create value,’ he said.