Nigeria’s Dangote Group has set September 30, 2026 as the date for the much-anticipated groundbreaking ceremony for its oil refinery in Lamu.

The Group chairperson Aliko Dangote revealed this during a meet-up with investors and analysts in Botswana, psyching up that the refinery will mark a major expansion of the conglomerate’s refining operations outside Nigeria.

“We are launching it on September 30,” Dangote was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The $16 billion Lamu refinery will have the capacity to process 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day, making it the largest refinery in East Africa.

The construction of the refinery at the Kenyan coast is expected to take three to four years to complete. Once completed, the facility will supply refined petroleum products to Kenya and the neighbouring markets, including Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The refinery will come in handy because it will reduce the region’s reliance on imported refined petroleum products.

Africa’s richest man will rely heavily on debt to finance the oil refinery in Lamu. About 70 percent of the estimated $16 billion (KSh2.07 trillion) will financed through debt, while the remaining 30 percent will be financed through equity (shareholders, including Dangote).