President William Ruto alongside Nigerian tycoon Aliko Dangote during Lamu refinery groundbreaking ceremony/PCSBillionaire businessman Aliko Dangote has quipped that he is still trying to figure out what “magic” President William Ruto worked on him to get him on board with the Lamu oil refinery project.
Dangote made the light-hearted remarks on Wednesday during the groundbreaking ceremony for the refinery, as he recounted how the project emerged from an initial conversation over the supply of fertiliser.
“This project started like, actually like a joke,” Dangote said, explaining that the discussions that eventually led to the refinery began after Ruto sent a representative to meet him in April.
He said the initial interest was for Dangote’s company to supply fertiliser, but the discussions later opened the door to a broader investment conversation.
Dangote said he was subsequently persuaded to attend a conference, where he met Ruto and Uganda President Yoweri Museveni.
“And it was that time that both myself, him, and our own father, President Museveni, we had a small meeting in the holding room,” he said.
According to Dangote, the meeting led to discussions about establishing a refinery in the region.
The project, he disclosed, initially targeted another location, but further research led them to settle on Lamu.
“And that is when we said, okay, fine, we should go to Tanga (Tanzania) and put up a refinery. But then after doing some research and calls, we ended up with Lamu,” he said.
The tycoon said the choice of Lamu was particularly striking to him because he had little familiarity with the coastal location before the project was conceived.
“To be honest, before May ended, I’ve never really heard of any name called Lamu,” he said.
“Really my first time.”
He then turned to the speed at which the project had progressed, joking that he was unsure what had convinced him to move so quickly.
“This is also the fastest, or the second fastest project we have actually launched after the fertiliser in Gode, Ethiopia,” Dangote said.
“I don’t really know what magic he used on me,” he added, referring to Ruto.
The “magic” remark was made in a light tone and drew laughter from attendees at the ceremony.
Dangote said the speed of implementation was already evident at the project site, with equipment arriving ahead of the construction works.
“But you can see that we already have more than 110 equipments,” he said.
He added that the project would receive a further shipment of equipment in the coming weeks.
“And we have 400 additional equipments that will arrive in the next 60 days,” he said.
