Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has expressed satisfaction with Nigeria’s latest refinery owned by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the founder of Dangote Industries Ltd.
She made this known at a meeting with representatives of Dangote company, Honeywell Group, First Bank Plc, women entrepreneurs and National Association of Nigerian Traders, among others.
However, she pointed out that there are indications of fossil fuel being phased out, as fossil fuel aims to achieve zero gas emission:
“The world is going greener slowly but surely; fossil fuels are on the way out. We shall soon have the largest refinery being built in the world by Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
“It is an incredible feat, I am only sorry that we did not encourage and support this years ago; this should have been the case.”
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala noted that the transition to a low carbon global economy implied more changes ahead, hence careful economic planning and management will be vital.
She also said Nigeria and WTO could help support the process of change because economic growth had been sluggish since 2016 when fallen oil prices pushed Nigeria’s economy to recession.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who sought for assistance from the WTO to make the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) work well, noted that most countries were not following the rules.
He said that besides the Company’s refinery in view, it was also into petrochemical which was oil-based, adding that new technology was in progress to produce petrochemicals from oil.
“By this quarter, Nigeria will be the largest exporter of Urea (fertilizer) in Africa,” Dangote said.
The participants of the meeting, however, appealed to the WTO Director-General to assist their businesses through ongoing negotiations at the WTO aimed at removing bottlenecks in international trade.
The newly appointed Director of the WTO, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is in Nigeria to express appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari and stimulate economic growth.
Amaka E. Nliam
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