The Dangote Group has announced the commencement of the company’s $1 billion cement plant in Okpella, North of Edo State.
The new six million metric tonnes per annum capacity plant in Okpella is coming on the heels of a similar arrangement for another six million mtpa plant in Itori, in Ogun State.
The groundbreaking event of the six million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) integrated cement plant was part of the activities to mark President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s 59th birthday.
The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who spoke during the ceremony, described the investment as consistent with the policy drive of the federal government targeted at the diversification of the economy from crude oil.
“The mining sector has the capacity to contribute over $25 billion to the national economy by 2025, creating new employment opportunities, developing local content and increasing tax revenue for the state and the federal governments,” Fayemi said.
The Edo State Government, Adams Oshiomhole, said the investment was equivalent to the total capital expenditure deployed in the state since he assumed office over seven years ago.
He called on other businessmen and women to emulate the investment drive of Dangote, saying that this was the only way the country would grow from strength to strength and create job opportunities for the nation’s teeming unemployed youths.
“Over the next 26 months, cement will be rolling out of the facility and I want to say that this investment would not have been possible without peace and confidence in the state,” Oshiomhole said. He noted that the investment would create job opportunities for about 24,000 people directly and indirectly.
Dangote noted that Nigeria is a growing economy, adding: Our developmental challenges are quite enormous and will require the combined efforts of government and private sector to overcome them. “It is in this light that we are here to contribute our own quota to transforming the economy of Edo State as we have done elsewhere. This project is only one of our several successful projects presently ongoing in parts of the country and outside in more than 15 other locations in African countries in line with our pan African investment strategy.”
He said in June last year, the group commissioned its cement plant in Ethiopia, Zambia and Cameroun, adding that there are plans to commission other plants in Senegal and South Africa very soon.
“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.
“By the time all these new projects are completed in the next few years, we will have a total capacity of 81 million metric tonnes per annum. This will make us one of the top six cement companies in the world,” he said.
He pointed out that the group was consolidating its cement businesses across Africa in order to reap from the benefits of scale, stressing that its operational offshore cement plants had started to make substantial contributions to its revenue.
“In addition to manufacturing, we are also investing heavily in agriculture for massive employment generation. Recently, we have commenced multi-billion dollar rice projects in some states in the north and we recently flagged off a rice out-grower scheme with the distribution of rice seedling to farmers in Jigawa State to reduce our dependence on imported rice, create massive jobs for the people and provide good returns to the farmers.
“We envisage producing up to one million tonnes of white rice with the cultivation of 200,000 hectares of land. This will lead to a conservation of about $11 billion presently spent on the importation of food items that could otherwise be produced locally.
“It is gratifying to know that the federal government has recently announced that it is putting in place strategies that will make farmers have greater access to implements and other inputs,” Dangote said.
In his welcome address, the Okuokpellagbe of Okpella Kingdom, Dr. Andrew Dirisu, lauded the doggedness of Dangote Cement and its prompt response to the call for the establishment of the cement plant, and commended the state governor for his support in acceding to the desire of the people to have Dangote Cement in the community given the abundance of the raw materials in the community.
He promised that the community would provide the enabling environment for the investment to thrive as it is to the benefit of Okpella and her people for the plant to operate and generate economic activities.
He urged the company’s management to ensure that the various corporate social responsibility projects that the Dangote Cement is known to have provided for other host communities are also replicated in Okpella.
