Downtown Africa
Dangote Fertilizer Plant, the US$2.5 billion plant owned by Africa’s riches man Aliko Dangote, looks set to commence operation in the first quarter of 2021.
The Urea Fertilizer plant was built to tap into Nigeria’s demand for fertilizer, a critical component of achieving food sufficiency for Africa’s most populous country.
Nairametrics reported last year that the plant will be opened early in 2021 producing Granulated urea fertilizer plant. The plant capacity is also expected to be expanded to produce multiple grades of fertilizers to meet soil, crop and climate-specific requirement for the African continent, as Fertilizer is essential for agribusiness in Africa.
The opening of the fertilizer plant has been pushed back severally for several reasons such as access to forex, the ailing economy and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic.
The newly completed fertilizer complex, located at the Lekki Free Zone (LFZ), in Lagos State.
Why this matters
The Fertilizer plant is expected to manufacture 3 million metric tonnes of urea per annum, with core focus on the reduction of Nigeria’s fertilizer imports, and US$400m annual foreign exchange from export to Africa countries.
- According to Dangote Group, “the coming on stream of the plant will not only boost food sufficiency in Nigeria, but also make Africa self-sufficient in food production and a net exporter of food to the world.”
- The fertilizer plant will also compete with Notore Petrochemicals a 500,000 metric tonne Urea Plant in Onne, Rivers State, Nigeria.
