When Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, decided to construct a refinery in southern Nigeria on a plot of swampland almost half the size of Manhattan, he turned to a man who’s helped him transform a small trading company into an industrial empire ...
For 30 years, Devakumar Edwin has navigated some of the world’s most difficult business environments to build Dangote’s textile factories, flour mills, food plants and cement firms. Now he is overseeing its biggest project yet: a $20,5 billion oil refinery and fertiliser complex.
While oil and gas sales typically account for about 90% of Nigeria’s export earnings, the state receives a relatively modest sum from the trade – less than $8 billion in 2020, according to the country’s Budget Office. The government’s potential benefits from the industry are further eroded by rampant crude theft – as much as 150,000 barrels per day, according to the government, which is about $5,5 billion a year at current prices.
The billionaire has long denied claims that he uses close government ties to bolster his business. Yet he will be the major beneficiary of provisions in Nigeria’s recently passed Petroleum Industry Act that restrict the license to import refined products for the purpose of covering any shortfalls in local supply to companies with active local refining capacity, said Ayodele Oni, partner at Bloomfield Law Practice in Lagos.
The facility is now nearing completion, including a $2,5 billion urea plant that began operations last month and is already shipping products to the US, India and Brazil. Once the refinery starts output, the company plans to list them separately, “probably on the London Stock Exchange”, Edwin said, declining to give any information on expected timing.
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