A United States Trade and Development Agency has signed a $997,447 training grant with Dangote Oil Refining Company.
Chairman, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote
Reliable sources say that Dangote has signed a mulit-million Naira contract with a US body to train over 100 of his employees on refinery fundamentals.
On Thursday Aliko Dangote, who is the head of Dangote Group, stated that the partnership would facilitate the provision of goods and services required for a training programme in connection with the refinery project.
Dangote said: “Just over a year ago, with our decision to invest in a $9bn, 650,000 barrels per day refinery project, we decided to address the paradox of Nigeria being one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of crude oil, but yet one of the largest importers of refined petroleum products.Today, the project has commenced and we expect to be in production by the first quarter of 2018. For such a high-tech investment, getting the right quality of human capital to run the plant is considered to be possibly the most critical success factor for the multi-billion dollar project.”
The Dangote Group CEO expressed gratitude for the grant, adding that the USTDA gesture was consistent with the agency’s history of support for infrastructural development in Nigeria.
In his turn US Consulate General public affairs officer, Dehab Ghebread said that the training is being provided as part of a whole-of-US government advocacy campaign in support of Universal Oil Products LLC’s (Des Plaines III) agreement through its affiliate, UOP Limited, for the provision of technology licensing and engineering services to Dangote Oil Refining Company.