For the past six months, many of the people in Africa's most populous country have been waiting for the misery of the Muhammadu Buhari years to end. Now, as Nigeria's version of eight lost years winds down, expectations are rising.

Nigeria's hopes of moving to a better place depend largely on two men: incoming President Bola Tinubu and the billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote.

The launch this week in Lagos of the world's largest mega refinery by Dangote, Africa's richest man, has created a buzz of excitement.

The refinery is a $20-billion monster which, if it reaches capacity, is designed to produce 650,000 barrels of product a day, employ 120,000 people, spawn a domestic petrochemical industry, provide the fertiliser needs for the country's farmers and generate more than double the country's present supply of electricity.

While doubts remain about the engineering and how soon it will take to be fully operational - no one in the world has built a refinery like this before - its importance to the region was reflected by the attendance of six west African heads of state at the launch.

Dangote has a plaque on his desk that reads: "Nothing is impossible." He has shown that big things can still get done in Nigeria - just not by the government.

Incompetence

As a perfect illustration of the incompetence that has marked his time in office, Muhammadu Buhari finally released a long-term national development plan, Nigeria 2050,...