Dangote's new Lekki urea plant begins shipping fertiliser to farmers across Nigeria

DANGOTE Industries' urea fertiliser is now finally on sale nationwide across Nigeria with about 120 trucks ferrying supplies from its new Lekki plant to markets up and down the country on a daily basis.

In one of the most ambitious industrial plans ever launched in Nigeria, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest man, recently built a $20bn refinery in the Lekki area of Lagos State. It comes with a $2bn granulated urea fertiliser plant, making Nigeria the only urea exporting country in sub-Saharan Africa and the biggest producer of polyethylene, which is capable of generating $2.5bn annually.

After months of speculation, the plant finally began producing and shipping the urea out. Devakumar Edwin, Dangote Industries executive director, said that the plant which has the capacity to turn out more than 4,500 tonnes of urea per day, will conveniently meet local demand and even produce for export.

Mr Edwin said: “We have the capacity to turn out 4,500 tonnes of urea every day, producing bulk application fertiliser. Every crop in Nigeria or globally will require nitrogen and this is a rich fertiliser, having 46% nitrogen

"Our company has the capacity to meet local demand and also export to African countries. Currently, the demand is less than 1m tonnes and we alone can produce 3m tonnes, so we can easily meet local demand and also produce for export to other West African countries.”

Aside fertiliser production, Mr Edwin added that Dangote Industries is already working to support farmers with training on its application and even establish laboratories across the country for proper soil examination. He pointed out that the plant is expected to manufacture 3m tonnes of urea per annum, with a view to reducing the nation’s fertiliser imports and generating $400m in foreign exchange annually from exports.

Mr Edwin added: “The uniqueness of this plant, apart from the fact that we are producing is the focus on farmers’ support, training, education and development. We are now establishing laboratories across the country and even mobile ones where we can take soil samples for proper examination to effectively grow agricultural output across the country.”