Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola has projected that the naira could appreciate to below ₦1,000 to the dollar before the end of the year, citing the full operational rollout of the Dangote Group refinery.
Otedola made the assertion in a post on X while congratulating Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, on the refinery’s attainment of its full production capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
According to him, the refinery’s ability to supply up to 75 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) daily represents a turning point for Nigeria’s economy and the wider African energy market.
“With domestic refining now firmly underway after decades of reliance on imports, pressure on the foreign exchange market should ease significantly,” Otedola stated. “I am optimistic that the naira will strengthen meaningfully, and trading below ₦1,000/$1 before year-end is increasingly within reach.”
Nigeria has long depended on imported refined petroleum products, a situation that placed sustained pressure on foreign exchange reserves. Otedola argued that the shift to large-scale domestic refining would drastically reduce dollar demand for fuel imports, helping stabilise the currency.
He also disclosed that Dangote has commenced an additional $12 billion expansion project to scale up refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day. The expansion will include petrochemical outputs such as 2.4 million tonnes of polypropylene and 400,000 metric tonnes of Linear Alkyl Benzene, a key raw material for detergent manufacturing.
Describing the development as historic, Otedola said the refinery’s milestone signals not just industrial progress but a broader economic reset capable of strengthening the naira, improving energy security and boosting local manufacturing.
The projection comes amid ongoing reforms aimed at stabilising Nigeria’s currency and deepening domestic production capacity.
Dangote Refinery Will Push Naira Below ₦1,000/$1 — Otedola
