The Chairman of the Dangote Group of Companies, Aliko Dangote, has thanked the federal government for its support in realizing the dream of the Dangote Refinery.

Dangote, the owner of the Lagos-based refinery, applauded President Bola Tinubu and Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for ensuring the success of the refinery, which will allow Nigeria to produce Premium Motor Spirit for the first time in 28 years.

"My appreciation goes to President Bola Tinubu for giving us all the support because, without the support of the government, we wouldn't be here. I want to thank the governor of Lagos State for doing a marvelous job by giving us all the support. You know 10 years ago, there was almost nothing here and this is what we call a dream," he said.

"Then Tinubu dreamt of getting this thing done more than 18 to 20 years ago and nobody thought about coming here. My first job was to come and look at the which was in 2015. I had never been to this part of Lagos but you can see what a dream can do. So I must thank him."

Dangote told the press the product will hit the market after his company finalises modalities with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

“Our PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) can be in filling stations within the next 48 hours depending on NNPCL,” he said.

Asked to speak on the pricing of petrol from his refinery, Dangote said, “It is an arrangement which is designed and approved by the Federal Executive Council led by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“As soon as it is finalised, which he (Tinubu) is pushing, once we finish with NNPC, it can be today, it can be tomorrow, we are ready to roll into the market.”

He declared that “it’s a celebration day” for Nigerians and assured all citizens that they “are now going to have good petrol while the engines of your vehicles will last longer. You will not be having an engine issue, which a lot of us were having. It won’t happen at all”.

“The quality here will match that of anywhere in the world; US, America, we will make sure that nobody will beat us in terms of quality,” Dangote said.

Last December, Dangote, Africa’s leading industrialist, commenced operations at his $20bn facility sited in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day.

The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year.