By Mohammed Kari | Tuesday, 28 Jul 2026For weeks, I watched the debate over the Dangote refinery and fuel import licences from the sidelines. At an exchange rate of about N500 to the dollar, (the rate when this government was sworn in 2023), that amounts to roughly US$22.7 billion, more than the estimated cost of the Dangote refinery itself. It is against this backdrop that the Dangote refinery emerged. The Refinery and Nigeria’s economic resetThe Dangote refinery, with a capacity of about 650,000 barrels per day, is the largest expression of this industrial philosophy. The refinery seeks to reverse that pattern by ensuring that more of the petroleum value chain remains in Nigeria.