Ruto says planned Lamu refinery will create 60,000 jobs

Kenyan President William Ruto has toured the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, ahead of the planned groundbreaking for a new Dangote refinery in Lamu, Kenya. Ruto said the Kenyan project would be larger than the Nigerian facility and create 60,000 jobs. Ruto disclosed the visit in a post on his official X account on Friday.

He said he had been invited by Aliko Dangote, president and chief executive of the Dangote Group, and described the Nigerian refinery as an example of what governments, investors and financial institutions could achieve through cooperation. According to Ruto, the Lekki refinery has a crude refining capacity of 700,000 barrels per day and produces more than 100 million litres of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel daily. He also highlighted infrastructure built to transport crude to the facility.

Ruto said the company had constructed 120 kilometres of sea cables to move crude from ships to the refinery. He said the project demonstrated the potential for large-scale African investment supported by collaboration among public institutions, businesses and financiers. The Kenyan president said construction of the Lamu refinery was due to be launched the following week, with the source material giving September 30, 2026, as the scheduled groundbreaking date.

He said the facility would transform Kenya’s petroleum sector and the wider region by improving fuel reliability and security and supporting industrialisation. Ruto added that the refinery would encourage the development of related industries. He identified fertiliser, chemicals and packaging among the businesses that could emerge around the project after completion.

The source material does not provide a completion date or further details on the project’s financing, ownership structure or construction timetable.