Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE plans to double its labour force to meet its target of doubling its processing capacity by 2029.

“Well, within the refinery, the workforce will practically become double, except in the water treatment section, because there we already have substantial capacity,” Edwin Devakumar, vice president, oil & gas and fertiliser at Dangote Industries Limited, told journalists at the refinery in Lagos on Friday.

He observed that labour expansion in the transport segment might not be significant, except in the case of an increase in local consumption.

“Obviously, we don’t expect a substantial increase in the consumption of petrol and diesel within the country in the short term,” he added.

The oil processing plant is on a drive to raise N2.2 trillion ($1.6 billion) in equity capital from retail investors to finance a major expansion from 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.4 million bpd.

On Monday, when it opened its order book to the public, setting the capital raise programme in motion, overwhelming subscription traffic, which attracted billions of naira in demand to the offer in its first few minutes, triggered downtime across a couple of trading platforms across Nigeria.

Bamboo and Cowrywise, two of several fintech and digital application channels approved by Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission to facilitate transactions for the offer, reported outages on their social media posts, with Bamboo said to have seen a 1,000-fold jump in traffic compared to regular days.

The pan-African share sale, dubbed by Mr Dangote as “the people’s IPO,” is broadly tapping into Nigeria’s fintech infrastructure to drive inclusion across the continent’s most populous country, with a minimum subscription of 10 units, equivalent to N5,250.

Towards that end, the transaction is targeting investors as diverse as traders, cooks, drivers and managers, giving “every human being living on the continent to be part of this action,” Mr Dangote told attendees at the sign-off ceremony of the offer documents in Lagos last week.

The green shoe option in the offer gives Dangote Refinery the flexibility to allot 30 per cent of the excess shares if the IPO is oversubscribed.

Should that happen, it will make the IPO not just Africa’s biggest yet but also the largest-ever among frontier markets, Temi Popoola, the CEO of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), said this week while responding to questions on CNN.

Compared to the first phase of the refinery project, which cost $20 billion and suffered construction delays, the expansion will cost less, Mr Devakumar said, because there won’t be a need to build most of the infrastructure used in the first stage, including a granite quarry and a port facility.

“The equipment, per se, will be the same because it’s a replica. But at the same time, we are trying to cut down on engineering and design costs because most of that will again be a replica. So we have told the design engineers, reduce your cost, and they have already agreed,” he said.

The current expansion plan at the fertiliser unit is expected to increase annual output from 3 million tons to 12 million tons.

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Apart from Lagos, where it is pursuing a primary listing, the Dangote Refinery is also looking to float its shares on bourses in Africa, including Johannesburg and Nairobi. A cross-border listing outside Africa, most likely in the US, is under consideration and could happen in three to four years.

According to Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Jumoke Oduwole, listing the refinery’s shares on the NGX could lift market capitalisation by $60 billion.

The company logged $1.8 billion in after-tax profit for the six months to June, when revenue topped $13 billion, according to the offer prospectus, riding on the soaring oil prices that followed the outbreak of the US war against Iran.

That compares to a net loss of $476 million recorded for last year.

On Thursday, an International Arbitration Tribunal under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris issued an award in favour of Nigeria, rejecting the claims in the arbitration instituted by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Ltd (Sunrise).

The company had made a claim against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, demanding $680 million as a settlement sum and interest in respect of another arbitration in which it is claiming over $2.7 billion in compensation and interest.

The claim relates to disputes associated with the development of the 3,960 MW Mambila Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State.

The tribunal, in its verdict on Thursday, directed Sunrise and its promoter to refund Nigeria’s legal fees of $11.8 million.

It also rejected Sunrise’s claim for an order that Nigeria should pay the company $400 million in satisfaction of the settlement sum of $200 million and the default sum of $200 million.

The tribunal insisted that Leno Adesanya, the promoter of Sunrise, is bound by the arbitration agreement with Nigeria pursuant to the settlement agreement, adding that the tribunal has jurisdiction over Nigeria’s counterclaim against him and his firm.

Tinubu speaks

In his reaction Thursday evening, President Bola Tinubu said the latest decision affirms the Nigerian State’s determination not to succumb to predatory and exploitative claims by corrupt local and international entities and their enablers and funders.

“On behalf of the Government and People of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I strongly commend the tremendous efforts of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi and the entire team at the Federal Ministry of Justice for their efforts in this matter,” the president said in a statement signed by presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga.

“I also commend the FRN defence team, led by Ms Elizabeth Oger-Gross and Mr Tolu Obamuroh, both of Paul Hastings LLP, for their professional and excellent defence of the country.

“I commend the patriotism and support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, and late President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, who testified in the case, which dated back to an illegal 2003 contract to build a 3,050-megawatt hydroelectric plant in Taraba State under a build-operate-transfer model. The Federal Executive Council never authorised the contract.”

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Mr Tinubu also thanked the other witnesses in the case, including former Ministers Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, and Suleiman Adamu, as well as the experts, for their active participation in defending Nigeria’s interests in the arbitration.

“I commend the National Security Adviser for his support and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for its investigation into the case.

“I want to assure you that while our country remains committed to partnering with genuine investors and honouring its legal obligations, it will continue to defend all opportunistic claims instituted against our commonwealth strongly,” he said.

Thursday’s ICC ruling clears the single biggest legal hurdle that has paralysed the Mambilla hydro power project for years, the statement said.