As a way of contributing to Nigeria content development initiative, Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical has so far awarded $368 million contracts to 120 local contractors at the site.
The Group Executive Director, Strategy, Portfolio Development and Capital Projects, Dangote Industries Limited, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, who made this disclosure during the tour of the Dangote Refinery by members of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), yesterday in Lagos, said there are several Nigerian content opportunities in the company’s refinery and petrochemical project.
He noted that the refinery would lead to significant skills transfer and technology acquisition opportunities in the country.
He said the group has embarked on a landmark integrated refinery and petrochemical project regarded as the largest industrial complex in the history of Africa, which is expected to take Nigeria to new heights through the transformation of the economy.
According to him, the company is already partnering with the Lagos State Government and Siemens in the skills development of the local community for employment at the construction site. “We have already trained and employed 250 artisans,” he added.
He disclosed the company’s intention to train 900 Nigerian engineers in India. “The company has completed the overseas training of first and second batches of Nigerian engineers and are being acclimatized at site. The third batch left for India classroom training for one month, on the job training for one year and working in real time with experts in the industry every day”, he added.
He said that company has so far employed 3,580 Nigerian personnel on site. “This excludes employment by the various contractors and sub-contractors at the site”, he said.
Edwin disclosed that the company, in partnership with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), kicked-off training for 200 youths in its host communities as part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives.
He disclosed that the programme is meant to prepare the selected youth with vocational skills that will make them employable or self-employed.
Speaking on the progress made so far on the refinery project, Edwin disclosed that the company has imported world’s largest reactor regenerator and well as a crude column, which is equivalent to 30-storied building weighing about 100 fully loaded trucks.
According to him, the refinery will ensure that the security of local supply of petroleum products is guaranteed as well as the availability of petrochemical feed stock (Poly-propylene & Polyethylene), which will be enough for the Nigerian market as well as the neighboring countries.
President/Chairman of council, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Mukhtar Zubairu Sirajo, commended the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote for his investment in the Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists, (NUJ), Lagos State Council, Qasim Akinreti, thanked the company for giving the union opportunity to embark on the tour of the refinery project.
Samson Oyedeyi
