The
news that, Dangote Group has concluded plans to build the biggest oil refinery
in the sub saharan Africa should send Nigerians all the world over screaming on
top of their voices telling whoever cares to listen that at last Nigeria is on
its way out of the quagmire that has held it back from taking its rightful
place as the leader of Africa. Fuel scarcity has been the biggest challenge
that the Nigerian politician have not been able to solve despite the abundance
of the resources that produces the fuel i.e. Crude oil.
This blog is going to explain why that announcement is the biggest
thing that has happened to Nigeria since the discovery of that black Gold. In
fact it is potentially going to be bigger than the discovery of oil. We all
know the consequence of the oil discovery so I am not going to dwell on that.
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| Aliko Dangote - CEO Dangote Group |
However, permit me to indulge myself in saying that "Mr Dangote
is gonna kill a thousand birds with a single stone". There are many
reasons why I dare make that assertion.
Electricity, the number one factor that is affecting the ability
of Nigerians to forge ahead with their lives despite the government is woefully
lacking. When fuel becomes available, Nigeria should and would be able to use
the fuel to generate electricity. That alone will set free the entrepreneurial
and creative spirit of millions of young Nigerians. Nigeria will never be the
same country again. Industries that have been relocating to neighbouring
countries would come back home. There will be less smoke in the atmosphere, less
noise from the so-called "I pass my neighbour". For the uninitiated,
it is a generator mainly used for outdoor power generation in the developed
world because it is noisy and unhealthy. In Nigeria however, it is the defacto
source of electricity for everybody. Yes everybody including those who own private
jets, is that not ironic?
The reward will be endless.
There is a little matter of official corruption, we all know about
the scam call "petroleum subsidy", where Nigerians were/ are robbed
in the broad daylight in front of the whole world and yet cannot do anything
about it for whatever reason, I let others deal with that. In short my point
is, when the Dangote petroleum refinery goes into production, there won’t be any need for
fuel importers and hence no fuel subsidy payments to faceless fuel importers. Well unless in a special case called Nigeria, they might still find a way of importing the fuel from Dangote, notwithstanding the refinery is physically located in the country. It is Naija so if that happens, no one should be surprise!
This is not the first time Mr Dangote has done something that the
government of Nigeria could not do. His cement factory is the biggest project
in Nigeria that has completed on schedule and on Budget. The Nigerian state could
not repair its own refineries because it will shut the subsidy scam door just a
bit. And those who are benefiting from the scam want the door to remain
ajar.
I know the politicians would line up when the project is completed, led by the commander in chief (c-in-c) of the Federal Republic of Corruption to unveil another milestone in the development of Nigeria. The c-in-c would hold the symbolic scissors to cut the ribbon that would signal the official unveiling of the refinery. What the project will be telling Mr c-in-c that he might not be able hear because he is devoid of any shame, however, is you corrupt clown, keep wasting the opportunity to make yourself immortal. And Mr Dangote would be smiling on the background already thinking about the next responsibility to take off of the politicians and help Nigerians and make money at the same time. Who knows, may be he would take over the monster called Ajaokuta and make something profitable out of it, lest it falls into the hands of the Chinese. Just thinking aloud!
It is amazing how Nigerian politicians don't see the irony in the fact that despite them having more funds at their disposal than Dangote, they cannot point to anything in the magnitude of what he has achieved. Amazing that he continue to succeed despite the politicians not because of them. He needed electricity, they cant provide it well generate his own.
I guess what Nigeria needs is not politicians but more Dangotes! May be from now on when Nigerians pray to their various "Gods, deities" they should ask them of more Dangotes instead of good politicians, just may be.
At least then, we know we have someone who has proven record of generating electricity albeit for his own company.
PS: The use of politicians instead of leaders in this blog is deliberate because to be a leader, you must lead unfortunately no one seem to be leading in Nigeria today.
