WHY ILORIN IS COMPETITIVE FOR A SECOND DANGOTE REFINERY IN NIGERIA – Rukayat Shittu

Following my invitation to Alhaji Aliko Dangote to consider Ilorin for a future refinery, many have asked a legitimate question.

Can an inland city like Ilorin compete with Lagos when it comes to crude supply, logistics and access to international markets?

My answer is simple, yes, potentially, but not by trying to make Ilorin another Lagos, but by serving a purpose Lagos may struggle with.

Ilorin’s advantage is precisely that it can serve a different purpose.

Lagos has the coastline, deep water access and proximity to international shipping. It is therefore naturally positioned to remain a major refining and export hub for Europe, Asia, the Americas and the wider Atlantic market.

Ilorin can complement that position by becoming an inland energy and refining hub focused on Nigeria and the African continental market.

An Ilorin refinery does not need a coastline to receive crude.

It can be supplied through a combination of dedicated crude pipelines from producing regions; expanded national petroleum infrastructure; strategic crude storage;
pipeline connections to multiple supply corridors and, where commercially viable, rail as a supplementary logistics option.

Nigeria produces crude in the Niger Delta, while emerging inland production prospects provide opportunities for future diversification of feedstock sources.

A refinery should be located not only close to crude, but also close to its customers.

And this is where Ilorin becomes a sound pitch.

Ilorin sits at a strategic junction between the South and the North.

A refinery here could potentially serve Nort Central Nigeria, the North, and neighbouring African markets, while retaining access to the South West.

Instead of transporting huge volumes of refined products from the coast deep into the interior, Nigeria could bring refining capacity closer to the consumers.

That means potential savings in transportation,storage, road congestion, product evacuation, distribution time and logistics risk.

The bigger opportunity is an Ilorin Energy and Industrial Corridor.

A major refinery could anchor petrochemicals, gas processing, fertiliser, power generation, industrial manufacturing
storage, engineering services, logistics, aviation fuel, lubricants and other energy intensive industries.

Ilorin could become an inland energy gateway connecting Nigeria’s major markets with the wider African market.

Lagos can remain Nigeria’s major coastal refining and global export hub.
Ilorin can develop as an inland refining, distribution and African market hub.

One faces the ocean.
The other faces the continent.
That is not duplication.
That is diversification.

And diversification is how serious economies reduce systemic risk and logistics costs.

My invitation was addressed to Alhaji Aliko Dangote because he has demonstrated what Nigerian private capital can achieve at world scale.

But the proposition is much bigger than one investor.

Other Nigerian industrialists, indigenous petroleum companies, international investors, infrastructure funds and Private consortia can step in.

Kwara is pen to all serious investors willing to build productive energy infrastructure.

Let them come. Let the engineers study it. Let the economists model it. Let the investors test the numbers.
If the numbers work, Ilorin is ready.

Kwara has the land.
Kwara has the location.
Kwara has access to major markets.
Kwara has an emerging infrastructure ecosystem.
And, most importantly, Kwara has the ambition to turn its strategic geography into industrial wealth.

So my invitation remains.

Alhaji Dangote, come and look at Ilorin.
Not because Ilorin has no challenges.
But because every great industrial project begins by solving challenges that are worth solving.

Ilorin may not be Nigeria’s next Lekki.
It could become something different, Nigeria’s inland energy gateway to Africa.

Hon. Rukayat Shittu