The groundbreaking ceremony of the Dangote East Africa Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Special Economic Zone which took place yesterday has been described as Nigeria’s 66th birthday cake.
Making this assertion on Thursday, 1st October, 2026 was the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), a civil rights organization.
According to the Executive Director of the group, Professor Ishaq Akintola, Alhaji Aliko Dangote deserves a standing ovation for his giant strides in the petroleum industry and for taking his vision to other countries on the African continent.
The full statement reads:
”The groundbreaking ceremony of the Dangote East Africa Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Special Economic Zone which took place yesterday can best be described as Nigeria’s 66th birthday cake.
”Apart from being a monumental landmark for the African continent, the groundbreaking ceremony has given Nigeria cause to celebrate its independence with fanfare. Coming on the eve of Nigeria’s 66th independence anniversary, it serves as Nigeria’s birthday gift without which there is nothing to celebrate.
”What is there to celebrate with mass abductions and killings all over the land, with hunger, starvation and abject penury? What is there to celebrate with extra-judicial deaths of detainees in large number?
”What is there to celebrate with Nigerian travellers spending several days on bad roads on trips that, ceteris paribus, should not take longer than two to three hours? What is there to celebrate with high prices of foodstuffs that turn ordinary Nigerians into beggars overnight while bad road engineering network and the citizens’ irresponsible attitudes cause destructive floods around the country.
”Against this gloomy background, the Dangote East Africa Petroleum Refinery’s groundbreaking in Mokowe, Lamu County, Kenya yesterday, 30th September, 2026 serves as a tonic, nay, an elixir and a spirit lifter for many frustrated Nigerians.
”East Africa is strategically positioned to serve North America, India and some Asian countries. It is also close to the Atlantic Ocean. Nothing could be more suitable for a 700,000 barrels per day petroleum refinery.
”For incentives, Dangote has offered Kenya’s neighbouring countries (Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, and Somalia to the east) 30% shares in the $16 billion investment. The refinery will also train 1,000 Kenyan engineers (https://businesspost.ng/general/dangote-breaks-ground-on-700000bpd-kenya-refinery/).
”Coming barely two years after the establishment of his Nigerian refinery at Lekki, Lagos and a week after his Ethiopian and Djibouti debut, the groundbreaking ceremony in Kenya is a landmark achievement not only for Kenya but for Nigeria and the African continent as a whole.
”Dangote’s appetite for continental industrial expansion is nulli secundus. Even this fait accompli is a testament to Aliko Dangote’s business acumen and the administrative competence of his immediate and trusted assistants.
”We celebrate Dangote for bringing glory to Nigeria. As we speak, the name of Nigeria is on the lips of every Kenyan, every Ethiopian and every citizen of Djibouti. Whose glory is shining for these achievements? It is indubitably that of Nigeria.
”Like in the 70s and 80s, non-Nigerian black Africans in the diaspora will soon begin to claim they are from Nigeria. This is what we should be celebrating today. It is our independence day gift. It is Nigeria’s 66th birthday cake. Alhaji Aliko Dangote deserves a standing ovation.
”Our great country has risen again where it was least expected, namely, in technological breakthrough, courtesy the Dangote phenomenon. It is an industrial revolution worthy of emulation by the Nigerian business community, research centres in tertiary institutions and elsewhere as well as by Nigerian youths who were hitherto retarded, regimented and conditioned for poverty and disillusioned for failure and backwardness.
”In other climes, the social status of Alhaji Aliko Dangote would have been raised above the galaxies, Dangote Refinery would have been given special protection by the policy makers and the man himself would have been invited long before now for a special presidential recognition and proclamation, ‘Arise, Sir Aliko Dangote’.
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