The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, over the weekend assured Nigerians that the country will soon be out of recession as the Government has shown the will and resolve to get the economy moving again.
He said Nigerians will soon have reasons to smile as there are concrete moves to diversify and grow the economy, especially in the manufacturing, agriculture and mining sectors.
He noted that collapsing oil prices and economic contractions are not entirely new in Nigeria and that the country eventually overcome the then hardship, urging Nigerians to exercise patience and bear with the Government during this period when hard decisions will have to be made.
Describing the backward integration policy of the Obasanjo led administration as a huge success, he revealed that the policy, which was implemented in 2002 moved Nigeria from the world’s leading importer of cement to not only becoming self-sufficient, but also a net cement exporter.
“With a potential inflow of $1.25 billion per annum against exports and $2.5 billion forex savings this year that would otherwise have been required to fund imports for local cement consumption,” he said.
A success story of this magnitude, according to him should be protected and replicated in all areas of the economic diversification.
Dangote Cement is a fully integrated quarry-to-customer producer with production capacity of 29.25 Mta in Nigeria. The Obajana plant in Kogi State is the largest in Africa with 13.25 Mta of capacity across four lines. The Ibese plant in Ogun State has four cement lines with a combined installed capacity of 12 Mtpa, while the Gboko plant in Benue state has 4Mta.
In addition, the company is investing several billion dollars to build manufacturing plants and import/grinding terminals across Africa. It has operations in Senegal (1.5Mta), South Africa (2.7Mta), Cameroon (1.5Mta), Ghana (1Mta import facility), Ethiopia (2.5Mta) and Zambia (1.5Mta). We are also building plants in Tanzania (3Mta), Republic of Congo (1.5Mta), Kenya (TBC), Nepal (TBC) and Zimbabwe (TBC). We plan to build import or grinding facilities in Sierra Leone (0.7Mta), Ghana (1.5Mta), Cote D’Ivoire (1.5Mta), Liberia (0.7Mta). Just last week, the Company commenced arrangements for the construction of 3 million mtpa grinding plant in Cote d’Ivorie.
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