In a video widely circulated on social media, staffers at the facility were seen the facility congratulating the billionaire on his latest triumph.

Baba Dangote congratulating staffers as the $2bn Dangote Fertilizer Plant begins production test run. pic.twitter.com/Ep9YBS9J2V

— ᴏᴠɪᴇ ᴀʟɪ ᴏnovwo-ᴏᴍᴀsᴏʀᴏ ™☤🇳🇬 (@OvieNews) March 25, 2021

The plant is a component of the $12 billion Dangote refinery project that covers an area of 2,635 hectares on the Lekki Free Zone overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Lagos.

The Urea Fertilizer plant was built to tap into Nigeria’s demand for fertilizer, a critical component of achieving food sufficiency for Africa’s most populous country.

With the start of production at the facility, this fertilizer plant is expected to boost the Nigerian economy by over $2.5 billion annually through foreign exchange savings and exports.

A total of over $9 billion is estimated to be saved for Nigeria annually from the Dangote refinery, petrochemical, and fertilizer plants by way of reduction in foreign exchange spending and other import-related costs.

The Fertilizer plant is expected to manufacture 3 million metric tonnes of urea per annum, with a core focus on the reduction of Nigeria’s fertilizer imports, and $400m annual foreign exchange from export to other African countries.

According to Dangote Group, “the coming on stream of the plant will not only boost food sufficiency in Nigeria but also make Africa self-sufficient in food production and a net exporter of food to the world.”

The company also said capacity at the plant will later be expanded to produce multiple grades of fertilizers to meet soil, crop, and climate-specific requirement for the African continent.

The beginning of production at the fertilizer plant could not have come at a better time for Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote.

Last month, Dangote saw his net worth declined by a whopping $1.20 billion in the month of February alone.

Dangote who is Africa’s wealthiest man for the tenth year in a row and whose wealth peaked at $18.4 billion this year, saw his wealth declined by $1.20 billion, to $16.6 billion from $17.8 billion recorded on the 31st of January 2021, data retrieved from Bloomberg Billionaire Index reveals.

The majority of Dangote’s fortune is derived from his 86% stake in the publicly-traded Dangote Cement, and the fall in Dangote’s net worth is partly attributable to the decline in the share price of his flagship company, Dangote Cement Plc (DCP), as well as the share price of his integrated sugar business, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc (DSR).

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