Lagos — Nigeria’s Dangote oil refinery has reached a deal with Honeywell to use the US industrial group’s technology to build up production of petrochemicals for plastics and detergents, the companies said, expanding the $20bn complex’s footprint beyond fuels and making Nigeria less dependent on imports.
The move is part of Dangote’s wider plan to build an integrated petrochemicals business around Africa’s largest refinery, producing industrial and consumer inputs locally while positioning Nigeria as a regional manufacturing hub.
Dangote said on Monday it will use Honeywell UOP’s Oleflex technology to produce an additional 750,000 tonnes a year of propylene at its Lekki refinery, supporting plastics used in packaging, consumer goods and industrial applications.
The refinery will also deploy Honeywell technologies to produce 400,000 tonnes a year of linear alkylbenzene (LAB), an ingredient in detergents and cleaning products. Once fully operational, Dangote said its LAB plant is expected to rank among the world’s largest.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Reuters
UK court gives nod to facial recognition technology
London — A top court in Britain on Tuesday dismissed a legal challenge to the London police’s use of live facial recognition technology, ruling that the force’s policy does not breach human rights law.
Community worker Shaun Thompson and civil liberties campaigner Silkie Carlo argued that the Metropolitan Police’s policy on the overt use of live facial recognition unlawfully interfered with privacy, as well as freedoms of expression and assembly, under the European Convention on Human Rights.
They argued the policy gave officers too much freedom in how they use the technology, making it unclear and hard for people to predict when it might be used under the convention. Reuters
Pentagon sheds light on $1.5-trillion defence budget
Washngton — The Pentagon on Tuesday unveiled more details of President Donald Trump’s $1.5-trillion defence budget request for fiscal year 2027, by far the largest year-on-year increase in defence spending in the post-World War 2 era.
The Pentagon has created a category it is calling “presidential priorities”, covering Golden Dome missile defence, drone dominance, AI and data infrastructure, and the defence industrial base, the Pentagon officials told reporters.
Last year, Trump asked Congress for a national defence budget of $892.6bn then added $150bn through a supplemental budget request, sending the total price tag over $1-trillion for the first time in history. Reuters
Russia’s Africa Corps frees abducted men in Mali
Moscow — Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that two men, a Russian and a Ukrainian citizen, had been freed in a special operation in Mali after they were abducted in neighbouring Niger in 2024.
The ministry said the operation was carried out by Russia’s Africa Corps, a Kremlin-controlled paramilitary force. It said both men were employees of a Russian geological exploration company.
Russia’s Africa Corps, a paramilitary force that succeeded the former Wagner mercenary group, is active in several African countries including Mali, Equatorial Guinea and Central African Republic. Reuters
Judge blocks US administration’s wind, solar policies
Boston — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing a series of permitting policies that wind and solar energy industry groups say have stymied the development of new energy generation projects.
Chief US District judge Denise Casper in Boston issued a preliminary injunction sought by nine advocacy groups and industry trade associations that argued the administration had imposed unlawful roadblocks that have halted the development of wind and solar energy projects nationwide.
The ruling was the latest in a series of judicial rebukes to the Trump administration’s efforts to block federal approvals for wind energy projects or stop work on multi-billion dollar offshore wind farms under construction on the East Coast. Reuters
Senate Republicans work on border agencies’ funding
Washington — US Senate Republicans will move forward this week on a budget blueprint calling for new funding for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agencies for the next three years, Senate majority leader John Thune said on Tuesday.
Thune’s comments come as the Republican-controlled Congress aims to end a partial shutdown of the department of homeland security. Reuters
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