Completion of Dangote Refinery has put to shame detractors — Akpabio
By Opeyemi Abdulsalam
The Senate leadership has described the 650,000bpd Dangote Petroleum Refinery as the 9th wonder of the world and came hard on those who are skeptical of the completion of Dangote Petroleum Refinery describing them as dream killers.
Indeed, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who led the leadership of the 10th Senate on a tour of the Refinery in Lagos said detractors of the refinery have all been silenced and that indeed, previous governments have been put to shame with the completion of the project.
Commending Dangote for completing the largest single train refinery in the world in a record time, the Senate President said Dangote deserves all the accolades for the feat, noting that a simple residence for Nigeria’s Vice President could not be completed by successive administrations until after 14 years.
Akpabio came hard on those who were skeptical of the completion of the refinery, describing them as dream killers.
Akpabio, who led the leadership of the 10th Senate on a tour of the refinery in Lagos, said detractors of the refinery had all been silenced and that indeed, previous governments had been put to shame with the completion of the project.
He promised that the National Assembly would give it what it takes to protect the project, describing it as one project that Nigeria and indeed Africa should take the ownership of and protect from jealousy.
He said, “They told us in Abuja that Dangote Refinery is a farce but we have come here and see for ourselves that the refinery is alive and running.
“Dangote has put to shame a lot of people. They are wondering how it will be possible for a single individual to accomplish what a whole nation could not accomplish; what 240 million people could not maintain; what a continent could not do and then one person built a 650,000bpd project.
“They keep wondering how one person can succeed where nations have failed; where the continent failed. But Dangote has done it. It is highly commendable.
”We came to see the refinery because we in the current Senate believe in the Nigerian dream. We didn’t come as a doubting Thomas but we came because we believe in the project; we came to rekindle the hope of Nigerians and the Nigerians’ can-do spirit.”
Akpabio stated that Nigeria couldn’t make her refineries function in Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Warri, but that “Dangote and his team have proven that it is possible to dream and achieve it in Nigeria.”
He said the shame that came with the discovery of oil in Nigeria in 1958 has been removed by Dangote, alluding to a report that India does not have oil but his refineries from where the country exports refined products.
“The inability of the nation to refine its oil has brought untold hardship on Nigerians so much so that the Belgian government recently banned the exportation of dirty and condemned fuel to West African countries just because we can’t refine our own products.”
Describing the refinery as quite unbelievable, Akpabio said the Senate and the entire National Assembly would come up with robust legislation that would protect the project and others like it.
“Mr. Dangote, I pity you a lot because even your friends will envy you simply because they will keep wondering how can you succeed when nations, and continents have failed.
“Now that we have seen for ourselves, we are here to announce our own endorsement of this major project. It is also shocking to see that we produce sufficient fertilisers for Nigeria and enough to be exported.
“As I said we will do our report and we will speak to Mr President to put a stop to fertiliser import to Nigeria. You will hear from us soon,” he added.
