Awards: Titans of the Year

By Damilola Adeleke 

ALIKO DANGOTE

– For Dangote Refineries & Petrochemicals

Nigerian businessman and industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is the President, Dangote Group and is referred to as the first man who built a private refinery in Nigeria.

Inaugurated on May 22, 2023

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery which had since commenced operations is a 650,000 barrels per day (BPD) integrated refinery owned by Dangote Group, making it the largest single-train refinery in the world with an investment valued at $19 billion at full capacity.

It is a multi-billion dollar project that will create a market for $21 billion per annum of Nigerian crude and designed to process Nigerian crude with the ability to further process other crudes.

The private refinery was designed to end the country’s refined oil and petroleum products import to help conserved scarce Foreign Exchange and to create jobs.

The refinery will meet 100 per cent of the Nigerian requirement of all refined products and surplus of each of the products for export, thereby earning FX and reducing pressure on the local currency.

BENEDICT ORAMAH

– Financing Nigeria at a critical time

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) under the watch

of its President/Chairman of the Board of Directors, Prof. Benedict Oramah, has advanced critical financing to Nigeria particularly at a time when the country was experiencing fiscal constraints to implement its developmental projects.

Among other interventions. Afreximbank had participated as a lender, bookrunner, and agent in a syndicated facility of up to EUR 2 billion for the Bank of Industry (BoI) to enable the development finance bank critical projects and drive sustainable development in the country.

Afreximbank also arranged a $650 million financing facility for Oando Petroleum and Natural Gas Company Limited to acquire a 20 per cent participating interest in a Nigerian joint venture.

The bank further approved a $200 million Corporate Finance Facility to support BUA Industries Limited’s expansion plans. The first tranche of $150 million was disbursed in October 2024.

SAMAD ISHAKU RABIU

– Investing across Nigeria

Nigerian businessman and philanthropist, Abdul Samad Rabiu is the Founder/ Chairman of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate concentrating on manufacturing, infrastructure and agriculture and producing over $2.5 billion in revenue.

BUA has expanded further into steel, producing billets, importing iron ore, and constructing multiple rolling mills in Nigeria. The company acquired Nigerian oil mills Limited, the largest edible oil processing company in Nigeria. In 2005 BUA started two flour-milling plants, in Lagos and in Kano. By 2008, BUA had broken an eight-year monopoly in the Nigerian sugar industry by commissioning the second largest sugar refinery in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2009 the company went on to acquire a controlling stake in a publicly listed Cement Company in Northern Nigeria and began to construct a $900 million cement plant in Edo State, completing it in early 2015.

Only recently, Rabiu, disclosed that the company plans to increase cement production to about 11 million metric tons by 2025 boost availability as well as gain more market access and share.

Mele Kyari

– Restoring the refineries

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has worked tirelessly to restore the NNPC and make it one of the most formidable National Oil Companies (NOCs) globally.

Under Kyari’s astute leadership, the NNPC has revamped phase one of the 210,000 barrels per day Port Harcourt refinery which hit a 70 per cent production milestone at its reopening in November, 2024.

Similarly, the 125,000 bpd Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), which had been inactive for several years, is now significantly back on stream and operating at 60 per cent capacity. These were feats not thought possible a few months back.

Kyari has overseen the ramping up of oil production from a lowly 1 million bpd to about 1.7 million bpd, literally leading the charge to remove all the bottlenecks that had hobbled oil output as well as mobilising the security forces to minimise the massive oil theft in the Niger Delta.

He has turned the national oil company around from being a loss making entity to a profit-oriented one and has made it a task to release the company’s annual financial statement to the public.

Demola Bero

– Creating a National Oil Major

Ademola Adeyemi-Bero is a well-known figure in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. As the founder and Chief Executive Officer of FIRST E&P, he has contributed immensely to Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

https://poftv.com/index.php/2025/01/01/i-want-to-be-a-vice-chancellor/

With over 33 years of experience in the industry, Adeyemi-Bero has worked with top players in the sector. With him in the saddle, FIRST E&P has achieved significant milestones, including the attainment of first oil and contributing to Nigeria’s Decade.

Damilola Adeleke

Adeleke Damilola (ACTION) is a versatile content writer with expertise in news writing and a seasoned media professional and broadcast specialist. Currently serving as News Editor for DNews Info, Damilola is also the CEO of the ACTION brand, committed to shaping lives and establishing a legacy of excellence for present and future generations.