Dangote Visits Jonathan After Signing Refinery Loan Deal.

President Goodluck Jonathan pledged Wednesday
in Abuja that his administration will keep on
implementing policies and measures that will
continuously improve the operating environment for
entrepreneurs and investors in the Nigerian
economy.
Speaking at an audience with the President of the
Dangote Group and leading Nigerian investors and
bankers, President Jonathan said that his
administration was fully committed to progressively
removing all major impediments to greater
investment in Nigeria such as inadequate
infrastructure and unsteady power supply.
The President applauded plans by the Dangote
Group to build Africa’s largest refinery, petro-
chemicals and fertilizer manufacturing complex in
Nigeria and thanked the consortium of banks who
are providing a $3.3 billion credit facility for the
project.
President Jonathan also expressed the Federal
Government’s appreciation of the great support
being given by Nigeria’s private sector to the
implementation of his administration’s agenda for
national transformation.
Noting that the Dangote Group’s massive
investment in refining, petrochemicals and fertilizer
production will contribute significantly to the
attainment of government’s priority objective of job
creation, the President thanked him and the Chief
Executives of the Nigerian banks that are helping to
finance the project for being patriotic and having
the confidence to invest in their own country.
“We are pleased that you are now investing in
refining, petro-chemicals and fertilizer production.
It is the downstream sector of oil and gas that can
really create many jobs. Your interest and
investment in that area will help in the area of job
creation which we have been emphasizing. You are
also helping us to move away from being a mere
producer of raw materials by adding value to our
natural resources,” he told Alhaji Dangote and
members of his delegation.
Alhaji Dangote who led the team from his
company, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria
and Nigeria’s leading banks had earlier told the
President that they were at the Presidential Villa to
thank him for his administration’s policies which
have greatly encouraged further investments in
Nigeria.
“Your policies have helped us greatly. Without
them, we will not be where we are today,” the
President of the Dangote Group told President
Jonathan.
He said that the refining, petro-chemicals and
fertilizer complex planned by his Group will make
Nigeria a net exporter of petroleum products
including diesel and aviation fuel, as well as poly-
propylene and fertilizer.
Alhaji Dangote who came on the visit to the
President after the signing of the loan agreements
for the complex was accompanied by Chief
Executives of participating banks including First
Bank of Nigeria, UBA, Stanbic-IBTC, Zenith Bank,
Access Bank, Ecobank, Fidelity Bank, Guaranty
Trust Bank and Rand Merchant Bank.
Alhaji Dangote hailed the signing of the financial
support agreement as a milestone in the
industrialization of Nigeria. “It shows that there’s
great confidence in the Nigerian economy and quite
a lot of appetite for investment in our country,” he
said.
Others on his delegation included Chief Kola
Jamodu, Mr. Femi Otedola, Mr. Jim Ovia and
management executives of the Dangote Group.