Nigeria, Aug. 3 -- The country exported crude, imported refined products, and watched other economies create industries, jobs and technological capabilities from the very resources extracted from Nigerian soil.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex offers an opportunity to rewrite that story.

Much has been said about its 650,000 now 700,000-barrel-per-day refining capacity and its capacity to eliminate fuel imports. Those achievements are significant, but they are not the refinery's greatest contribution.

To judge the project merely by the volume of liquid fuels it produces is to miss its true economic significance. The energy security it has assumed for Nigeria and Africa is far more strategic in our energy securit...