Nigerian press zooms in on refining licence granted to Dangote Refinery, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that Dangote Refinery has secured a licence to refine more than 300,000 barrels of Nigerian crude per day and will begin to process gasoline soon dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Punch reports that Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said his refinery has secured a licence to refine more than 300,000 barrels of Nigerian crude per day and will begin to process gasoline soon.
“We don’t want to start our refinery with foreign goods, we want to start with the Nigerian crude,” Dangote said in an interview in Riyadh on the sidelines of the Saudi-Nigeria business roundtable, according to Bloomberg.
“We’re more than ready and you will see our gasoline products soon,” he added.
The refinery was supposed to start production in August but missed that target in addition to several other over the years. But Dangote insists that his refinery will start producing “very very soon.”
The refinery’s first priority is to supply gasoline to Nigeria before exporting to elsewhere, including the West African region, he said.
The newspaper says that KPMG forecasts that Nigeria’s headline inflation will rise to 30 percent by December 2023, attributing the anticipated increase to recent reforms, such as fuel subsidy removal, and the unification of the foreign exchange market.
The insights were shared in KPMG’s macroeconomic review for the first half of 2023, along with projections for the second half of the year.
“Specifically, our model suggests that the combined influence of fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange liberalisation may drive headline inflation to about 30 per cent by December 2023.”
As of September, Nigeria’s current headline inflation rate was reported at 26.72 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
On how to control inflation, the report explained that the current MPR hike being adopted by the apex bank in the last 18 months has proven ineffective in stalling the increasing inflationary trend.
However, it advised that addressing issues such as energy and transportation costs, supply chain problems, and boosting local production will be more effective than increasing interest rates.
The report also projected that Nigeria’s economy will grow by 2.6 percent in 2023- a considerable reduction from the World Bank’s projection of 2.8 percent in 2023 and that the recent reforms from President Tinubu such as fuel subsidy removal and unification of the FX market will lower GDP growth in the country.
The report reads, “We expect the Nigerian economy to grow by 2.6 percent in 2023, lower than the revised World Bank’s 2023 forecast of 2.8 percent for Nigeria and the 3.1 percent growth rate achieved in 2022.”
The report highlights that the first-half macroeconomic challenges, including the unsuccessful naira redesign policy, sluggish growth due to low crude oil output, elevated inflation, and the fuel subsidy removal along with the devaluation of the naira, are expected to cast negative repercussions in the second half of the year.
Nigeria’s inflation has surged continuously over the past nine months, reaching a two-decade high of 26.72 percent in September.
The Guardian reports that the Group Chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group, Dr Umaru Kwairanga, has hinted at the proposed plan for dual listing with the Saudi Exchange, stressing that President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms have created room for investment inflow into the country.
Kwairanga, who spoke on the sidelines of the Saudi-Africa Summit in Riyadh, stated that the meeting was an opportunity to seek cooperation between the Saudi government and Nigerian businesses.
He said the summit was an opportunity for Nigeria to showcase itself and that the new administration has come with reforms.
He said: “We believe that with our population and many other advantages, we have opportunities to showcase what we have to Africans.”
He expressed optimism over opportunities in the NGX even in the face of foreign exchange (FX) scarcity
“One of the discussions we had is on dual listing between the Saudi Stock Exchange and NGX. We had a discussion with the Minister of Environment and his officials looking at how our biggest companies quoted on NGX are going to leverage it.
“We are going to take companies like Aramco to be listed on the NGX. We intend to replicate what we did on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with the Saudi Stock Exchange regarding dual listings.
“Last month, we were with the President of NASDAQ. We had so many discussions on many business opportunities. So, it will attract a lot of investors into the Nigerian economy and I believe this government is doing a lot regarding reforms.
“We need to come and showcase investors and you can see the way people have applauded Nigeria’s delegates that have come for this conference,” he said.
The newspaper says that the Nigerian economy depends largely on hydrocarbons. Yet, in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the subsequent energy crisis that gripped European countries due to a reduction in gas supply from Russia, Nigeria found itself ill-prepared to seize the opportunity presented by the surge in demand for natural gas.
Despite possessing more than 200 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, Nigeria failed to capitalize on the unprecedented rise in global gas demand. This lack of foresight and inadequate investments have significant implications for the nation’s energy sector and its economic development.
Experts are quick to attribute Nigeria’s failure to capitalise on the surge in gas demand to several factors, including poor investments, lack of foresight, and neglect of the domestic market.
The obvious first point is that inadequate investments in gas infrastructure, exploration, and production left Nigeria unable to meet the increased global demand promptly. The sad truth is that the lack of proper facilities and technologies hindered the country’s capacity to extract and export its abundant gas resources efficiently.
In addition, the country failed to anticipate the potential increase in global gas demand due to geopolitical events like the Russian-Ukraine conflict. As a result, it missed out on the windfall that could have bolstered its economy and energy sector, particularly in these dire times.
Furthermore, while focusing on export potential, Nigeria neglected its domestic gas market. The nation could have benefited from a more extensive network of gas distribution for local consumption, which would have boosted its industries and power generation capacity.
Excuses and reasons for missing out are irrelevant at this stage. There are implications, real life and far-reaching economic implications for missing out.
GIK/APA