Billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola has expressed optimism that the naira will strengthen meaningfully and trade below N1,000 per dollar $1 before the end of the year, following the attainment of full refining capacity by the 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
In a post on X on Thursday, Otedola, while congratulating Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, on what he described as a transformational milestone for Nigeria and the continent, noted that the feat is a key turning point for Nigeria’s foreign exchange outlook.
“With domestic refining now firmly underway after decades of reliance on imports, pressure on the foreign exchange market should ease significantly. I am optimistic that the naira will strengthen meaningfully, and trading below N1,000/$1 before year end is increasingly within reach,” Otedola wrote.
He further pointed out that the refinery’s capacity to supply up to 75 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit daily could significantly reduce the country’s dependence on imported fuel.
Otedola further disclosed that Dangote has commenced an additional $12 billion expansion project aimed at increasing refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day, adding that the expansion will also include the production of 2.4 million tonnes of polypropylene and 400,000 metric tonnes of Linear Alkyl Benzene, a key input in detergent manufacturing.
Polypropylene is widely used in plastics and packaging, while Linear Alkyl Benzene is a major raw material for household and industrial cleaning products.
