Kenyan President William Ruto has toured the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos State, ahead of the groundbreaking ceremony for the Dangote East African Refinery in Lamu, Kenya, next week.

Ruto disclosed this in a post on his official X handle on Friday, saying the visit was at the invitation of Dangote Group President and Chief Executive Officer, Aliko Dangote.

He said the Nigerian refinery, which has a crude refining capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, demonstrated what African governments, investors and financial institutions could achieve through collaboration.

Ruto said, “Toured the Dangote Refinery in Lekki, Lagos State, Nigeria, at the invitation of Dangote Group President and CEO @AlikoDangote ahead of our groundbreaking ceremony for the Dangote East African Refinery in Lamu, Kenya, next week.

“The refinery in Nigeria is a massive investment with a crude oil refining capacity of 700,000 barrels a day and produces more than 100 million litres of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel every day.”

According to him, the facility also has extensive infrastructure for transporting crude oil to the refinery.

“The company has built 120km of sea cables to move crude from ships to the refinery. This huge achievement is a testament of what African governments, investors and financial institutions can do together,” he said.

Ruto said the refinery planned for Lamu would be larger than the Nigerian facility and would transform Kenya’s petroleum sector.

See more Punch stories on Google.

Add Punch on Google

He said, “The refinery whose construction we launch in Kenya next week will be bigger. It will transform the petroleum sector in our country and region, providing fuel reliability and security, scaling up industrialisation and creating 60,000 jobs.”

Ruto added that the project would also stimulate the growth of other industries in Kenya.

“When the refinery is completed, spin-off industries will emerge, including the production of fertilisers, chemicals, and packaging,” he said.

The planned Lamu refinery is expected to have a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, with the groundbreaking scheduled for September 30, 2026.