He stated that beyond its commercial value, the refinery would serve as a catalyst for industrial growth, technology transfer, and local capacity development. President of Azikel Group, Dr. Azibapu Eruani, attributed the extended construction timeline to deliberate engineering upgrades and the complexity of building a full hydro-skimming refinery rather than a simpler topping plant. “The Azikel Refinery licensed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 has now gone through several enhanced value engineering and redesign to a 25,000 barrels per day capacity. Addressing concerns over the pace of the project, Eruani said many people had wrongly compared Azikel Refinery with topping plants, stating that the two facilities differ significantly in complexity and capability. Eruani maintained that Azikel Refinery was Nigeria’s second largest full slate refinery and the only refinery in Africa designed to process condensate into a complete range of petroleum products, including petrol, dual purpose kerosene, automotive gas oil, and heavy fuel oil.