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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Orji Sunday in Lagos

‘There is nowhere to fish any more’: life in the shadow of Nigeria’s biggest industrial complex

A construction crane alongside a stack tower at the Dangote Industries oil refinery in Lagos
The $21bn Dangote oil refinery in the Ibeju Lekki district of Lagos, Nigeria. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

On the outskirts of Lagos sits Africa’s largest oil refinery, and beside it, the continent’s biggest fertiliser plant. Armed men guard the gates and the perimeters are lined with floodlights and security cameras.

Owned by Dangote Industries, a multinational conglomerate founded by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest person, the compounds are in the Lekki free trade zone, abutting the Atlantic Ocean about 30 miles outside Nigeria’s commercial capital. The zone was designated by the federal government to develop industry and jobs.

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