Aliko Dangote revolutionized Africa's oil industry by solving a 50-year paradox: Africa is the world's major crude producer, but almost all of it was exported to Europe to be refined and re-imported at full price. How Aliko Dangote Petroleum Refinery changed that model: 1. World's largest single-train refinery Built on 2,685 hectares of swamp near Lagos at a cost of about $20 billion, with 650,000-700,000 barrels per day capacity. It is Africa's largest privately funded industrial project. At peak, 70,000 workers, 320 cranes, 1,200 pieces of equipment and the world's largest stone quarry were deployed. 2. Ending import dependency Before 2023, Nigeria, which is Africa's biggest oil producer, exported crude and imported all refined petrol because state refineries were dead. Dangote said the significance is Nigeria will become self-sufficient and West/Central Africa will also be self-sufficient — "the crude oil will not now leave the continent". By April ...
President William Ruto renewed call for Africa inclusion in the permanent membership of the UN Security Council at the 81st UN General Assembly in New York — his second push in 3 days. Speaking on Wednesday, he argued the Security Council no longer reflects the modern world: Ruto stated: "Every nation in this hall has one vote. Every nation is sovereign and equal under the Charter. Yet on the gravest questions of war and peace, five nations possess a permanent power that the other 188 do not." "The equality proclaimed in this Assembly ends at the doors of the Security Council," Ruto further added. Key points made by President William Ruto 1. Africa's exclusion: Africa has 54 Member States, more than a quarter of the Assembly, "yet no permanent voice in the body entrusted with the primary responsibility for international peace and security". "We are frequently the subject of its decisions, permanently discussed but permanently excluded." 2. 1....