Dangote Fertilizer Set To Kick Off Operations Next Month

Dangote Fertilizer plant looks ready to start operations in the first week of April.  The fertilizer plant project which is located at the Lekki Free Zone Trade area in Lagos is not far away from other factories including Lekki Port and Dangote's refinery set to produce 650,000 barrels of oil daily.

The project which costs $2.5 billion is the largest fertilizer plant in the world, with the capacity to manufacture 3 million tons of urea and ammonia in a year.

This plant will be instrumental in attaining higher levels of food sufficiency in the country as well as lowering amounts spent on imports, as there is a high demand for fertilizer in the Nigerian agricultural sector, most of which is met by imported fertilizer. Dangote Fertilizer, like every subsidiary of the Dangote Group, has plans to dominate the continent as it expects to generate $400 million annually in foreign exchange. 

Plans to grow the plant's three million tonnes are already being made in a bid to produce different categories of fertilizers intended to meet soil, crop, and climate-specific requirement for the African continent. 

Owned by billionaire Aliko Dangote, who still holds the position of the wealthiest black man, Dangote Fertilizer will make Nigeria the only urea exporting country in Sub-Saharan Africa besides being the largest fertilizer plant in the world. The plant is in line with the mission of the Dangote group which is to provide local, value-added products and services which meet the needs of the Nigerian populace.

 The plant's operations were supposed to kick off last year but were suspended several times due to the coronavirus pandemic and other issues like lack of access to forex and the bad economy.

Dangote Fertilizer plant will compete directly with Notore Chemical Industries, a fertilizer-producing company based in Onne, Rivers State, Nigeria. The company which was founded in 2005 by Onajite Okoloko produces 500,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer annually. It shut down in January for maintenance purposes.