After it failed failing to meet the December 2020 target, Dangote Group has set the first quarter of 2021 for its fertilizer plant’s take-off.
The Urea fertilizer plant is expected to take-off between February and March 2021.
The fertilizer plant project is operated by Dangote Industries Limited and completed its test run in November 2020.
Dangote Group’s Head of Corporate Communications, Anthony Chiejina, said the COVID-19 pandemic compelled the company to postpone the project take-off to December last year.
Once the plant commences operation, it will save Nigeria’s economy the $500 million spent yearly on the importation of fertilizers.
Nigeria currently consumes 0.7 metric tonnes of Urea fertilizer every year but Dangote’s fertilizer plant will manufacturer three metric tonnes.
The excess fertilizer will be exported to other African countries to generate a minimum of $400 million for Nigeria’s economy.
The plant is labelled as the biggest Urea fertilizer plant in the world and it is located at the Lekki Free Zone (LFZ) in Lagos.
The first phase of the project cost $2.5 billion.