Nigeria’s stake in the global trade supply has just been increased with the launch of the 3 million metric tones per annum capacity Dangote Fertiliser in Lagos by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Urea Plant, located at Ibeju Lekki Free Trade Zone, within the periphery of the Dangote Refinery currently under construction, is promoted by the Africa’s global enterprise, Dangote Industries Limited. Of significant importance is the timing of the inauguration. The plant would be pumping a fresh 3 million tonnes of granulated Urea into the country and the world supply amid the impact of increasing prices in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war.
With the current economic malaise facing Nigeria and which has decimated foreign exchange intake, the Dangote Fertiliser would be reversing an unsavoury trend in Nigeria’s balance of trade in which hundreds of millions of dollars is expatriated on fertilizer import annually. According to the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (COMTRADE) on international trade, as at 2020, Nigeria imports of Fertilizers was US$261.69m
Since agriculture contributes the highest to Nigeria’s GDP at 27 per ecnt, successive government has made efforts to promote agriculture through various incentives to empower the stakeholders so that the nation can reduce reliance on imported foods by growing what it eats and eats what it grows. This, the governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele said is exactly the…
