“People are begging us to sell,” he said.
He added: “We are very selective to whom we sell this product. We are loading a ship to the US, Brazil, Mexico, India … the EU is trying to buy from us.”
Dangote said the fertilizer plant is located on 500 hectares (1,235 acres) of land on the outskirts of Lagos and has an annual production capacity of 3 million tons of urea, making it the second largest plant in the world.
Urea and ammonia are essential ingredients for farmers to achieve their production goals, and access to fertilizers has been dramatically reduced, threatening the global food supply chain.
“We are lucky to have this plant,” added Dangote. “It comes at the right time of the Ukraine-Russia conflict when both Ukraine and Russia control significant amounts of agricultural inputs … This can be of great help to African countries. The export market is the market for seller’s field.”
The United Nations World Food Program said this month that the number of people on the brink of starvation rose to 44 million from 27 million in 2019. Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist for the Business Office Agriculture, South Africa, said parts of Africa could fall into starvation within three months if Russia’s war in Ukraine drags on.
“In the short term, between now and three months, the conflict will affect food supplies mainly from a price perspective,” Sihlobo told CNN.
“This is a huge impact. It’s very significant for the Nigerian economy,” Dangote told CNN.
Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said reducing fertilizer imports was a key pillar of Buhari’s diversification program, moving the country from a position of net importer of goods to being self-sufficient.
“Indeed, over the past 5 years, more than 35 million bags of mixed fertilizers have been produced in Nigeria. As a result, our fertilizer import bill has not only decreased significantly, but we have also seen a significant increase in fertilizer imports. increased investment in the fertilizer industry, such as authorized today by the Dangote Group,” he said in his speech at the inauguration of the plant.
“Today, Nigeria is self-sufficient in urea production, and we are also the leading urea producer in the African continent.
Speaking at the event, Buhari said the plant will help Nigeria end its dependence on food imports.
“Factory is creating huge opportunities in job creation, warehousing, transportation and logistics. This will create significant wealth, reduce poverty and help secure the future of our nation.”
Dangote Group is the second largest employer in Nigeria after Federal government.
