The proposed $9 billion Dangote Refinery in Lagos is
expected to create 85,000 jobs for skilled and unskilled workers
Despite having three refineries, Nigeria still finds it difficult to
meet the domestic needs for petrol and other products. The refineries
with an installed capacity to process 445,000 barrels per day (bpd) are
not working at optimum capacity.
Against this background, the proposed $9 billion Dangote Refinery and
Petrochemical Company in Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ), Lagos, is
expected to help refine products to bridge the gap in local needs,
conserve foreign exchange and create jobs.
The Dangote Group of Companies is promising to train over 8,000
engineers to run the refinery. It says on completion, the project will
create no fewer than 85,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Since it is a complex business, it is expected to open up other jobs
in construction, management, engineering, and administrative duties.
These jobs can be broken into pure engineering and journeyman.
Engineering refers to disciplines requiring formal education. In the
journeyman category, workers do not usually need a degree. They begin as
a trainee and work their way up to a site supervisor that oversees a
project.
Journeymen are contractors hired by construction companies which are
for contracted by refineries construction-related projects, such as
repairs and major turnarounds.
Other available job openings are oil refinery foreman, refinery general foreman, and oil refinery site supervisor.
Welders, electricians, tilers, aluminium doors/windows fitters,
building and construction workers will also not be left out. There are
other workers who maintain the refinery and do the work that is required
to keep the refinery running.
These positions can include maintenance personnel, cooks and catering
staff, truck and heavy equipment drivers, mechanics and other.
Gardeners and sweepers will also be needed to keep the refinery
surroundings as clean as possible.
A top official of LFTZ who will not want his name in print, said the
zone has been split into an oil and gas logistic park, light and heavy
industrial and manufacturing section, media centre and urban residential
section.
The official added that for the zone to be developed quickly, as
expected by the initiator, calls are being made for the development of a
meaningful partnership, to build a modern international airport and sea
–port, that will serve the zone, and become the aviation and maritime
hub of the sub-region.
It was also gathered that real estate companies would be given a role
to play in the development of the zone. The LFTZ will showcase
opportunities for private companies in the oil and gas manufacturing,
food processing, hospitality and leisure sectors, banking and financial
service sector would be expected to develop a 21st century financial
centre at the zone.
According to President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote,
Nigeria spends about $30 billion yearly on importation of petroleum
products, promising that when the project is finally completed, it will
transform the country from being a net importer of petroleum products to
a net exporter of the products. Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) or diesel,
Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) and other by-products of petroelum
refining such as poly-propylene and fertiliser will be in adequate
supply.
Speaking on the Project, the General Secretary, National Union of
Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Issa Aremu,
said with a projected daily production output of 400,000 barrels, the
same capacity of the four government-owned refineries in Port Harcourt,
Warri and Kaduna, operating at less than 30 per cent of installed
capacities, the bold initiative by the Dangote Group is a giant stride
in re-industrialising Nigeria in particular and Africa in general.
He said the project will create employment opportunities for many
Nigerians and set the country on the pedestal of industrialisation.
The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, (NUPENG)
agrees that the proposed refinery/petro-chemical and fertiliser complex
is a huge job generating venture. The workers have called on other
private investors, including the multinational oil companies to borrow a
leaf from Dangote Group by establishing refineries in the country to
create jobs and save the huge foreign exchange dissipated yearly on fuel
importation.
The oil workers recalled that years back, the administration of
former President Olusegun Obasanjo gave licences to about 18 indigenous
firms to refine crude oil, lamenting that about a decade after, none of
them has being able build the a refinery plant.
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masterminds of Saturday’s twin blasts in Bintu Sugar Ngamari area of
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wounded, have been arrested.