Africa’s richest man and president of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, announced the commencement of a six-million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) integrated cement plant in Okpella, north of Edo State, worth $1 billion. The event was also part of the activities to mark his 59th birthday.
This cement plant is set to be completed within 26 months, provide 6,000 direct jobs and 45,000 indirect jobs in the community, further expanding the footprint of the company across Nigeria. The company is also planning to commission a 6-mmtpa plant in Itori, Ogun state, which will raise its local production capacity to 41mmtpa per annum.
Minister of Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi, said the cement plant will bring positive changes to the nation’s solid minerals sector in job creation, foreign exchange earnings and local content promotion.
Dangote noted that Nigeria is a growing economy and it is still the best place in the world to invest. However, the factor that drives investments in an economy is the presence of an investor-friendly business climate.
Investments across Africa in the past one year.
In June last year, the group commissioned cement plants in Ethiopia, Zambia and Cameroon and there are plans to commission other plants in Senegal and South Africa very soon, according to Dangote.
“Also last year, in Lagos, we signed a deal valued at $4.34 billion, with Sinoma International Engineering Company Limited for the construction of 10 additional new cement plants across Africa, with one in Nepal in Asia. The combined capacity of these new projects will be 25 million metric tonnes per annum,” said Dangote.
