Dangote Fertilizer ‘ll Reduce Foreign Exchange Pressure On Naira, Says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the Dangote Fertilizer Plant located at the Lekki Free Trade Zone, would reduce the foreign exchange pressure on the Naira.

Buhari said this on Tuesday at the commissioning of the $2.5bn plant, which has the capacity to produce three million metric tonnes per annum.

Since 2020, the CBN had been depleting the external reserves to defend the naira in the foreign exchange market due to the scarcity of dollars.

The bank had introduced several policies to increase diaspora remittances through the official banking channel.

Currently, banks are rationing dollars among businesses who use the currency to fund foreign transactions due to the scarcity.

Buhari in his speech said the country will be saving millions of dollars annually in import substitution.

The President said, “I commend the chairman, board of management of Dangote Industries Ltd for their business initiative in realizing and building this plant to reduce our dependence on importation of fertilizer, create jobs on a massive scale and create the inflow of foreign exchange and accelerate economic growth.”

The President also said that Dangote is Nigeria’s biggest employer only second to the Federal Government.

“Along with the several other subsidiaries, Dangote Industries Ltd has created thousands of jobs around Nigeria. It is the second biggest employer of labour in this country after the Federal Government,” he added,

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, described the fertilizer plant as timely when considered from the standpoint of the recent developments in the global market where prices of wheat, fertilizer and crude oil had spiked by over 30 per cent following the Russian-Ukraine war.

He said, “This (fertilizer plant) will not only help to enable greater productivity of the agricultural sector, but will also help in insulating our Nigerian farmers from depending on imported fertilizer.”

It has been estimated that $625m inflow will be gained from exports of products from the plant.

Emefiele said, “I would like to thank Alhaji Aliko Dangote as well as the board of Dangote Group for this gigantic project meant to save Nigeria from the stress of importing foreign exchange for fertilizer.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria will continue to provide not just the conducive environment required to thrive, but providing willing investors in the fertilizer and other industries the necessary support both naira and foreign currency needed to import their equipment to support similar investments.”