LAGOS, Nigeria – The President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Alhaji Aliko Dangote,, hosted Kenyan President, Dr. William Samoei Ruto, on an extensive operational inspection tour of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex in the Lekki Free Trade Zone of Lagos on Friday, solidifying bilateral preparations for the construction of a proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, Kenya, industrial and energy correspondents monitored in Lagos on Friday afternoon, September 25, 2026.
The presidential inspection represents the final bilateral protocol preceding the official groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, September 30, 2026, in the coastal city of Lamu, where both leaders will inaugurate construction on the multibillion-dollar downstream energy terminal designed to anchor East Africa’s fuel independence.
Okay News reports that the technical visit consolidates investment and financing agreements concluded on Monday, September 21, on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where President Ruto, Dangote, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Finance Corporation, Samaila Zubairu, finalized the sovereign debt syndication and equity participation framework for the project.
Addressing bilateral correspondents following the New York deliberations, President Ruto framed the cross-border industrial initiative as a milestone in continental self-reliance, noting that the East African sub-region must urgently de-risk its supply chains from volatile international fuel shipping corridors and high import premiums.
“We are ready to break ground on the East Africa refinery in Lamu, a transformative project that will enhance the region’s energy security, deepen local value addition, create jobs and advance our industrialisation agenda,” President Ruto stated, adding that the project will create fresh commercial opportunities and position East Africa as a premier petrochemical and industrial corridor.
During the tour of the 650,000-barrel-per-day single-train Lekki facility on Friday, the Kenyan head of state and his executive delegation inspected the crude distillation units, the deep-sea marine loading terminals, and the centralized digital control room, evaluating the technological blueprints that will be replicated across the Kenyan project along the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport corridor.
The Lamu venture forms an integral pillar of Dangote Industries’ strategic blueprint to scale its aggregate refining capacity to 2.1 million barrels per day over the medium term, combining the 700,000-barrel-per-day greenfield installation in Kenya with an ongoing modular expansion designed to double the capacity of the Lekki complex from 700,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day.
Dangote highlighted that the transition toward local refining across Africa remains indispensable to eliminating artificial supply deficits, curbing foreign currency outflows, and retaining downstream wealth across the continent under the African Continental Free Trade Area framework.
The development marks an unprecedented expansion of Nigerian industrial investments into East Africa, establishing a strategic bridgehead to deliver refined premium motor spirit, automotive gas oil, and aviation turbine fuel across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
