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Nigerian Government Monday said that the state has attained self-sufficiency in the production of cement and is now an exporter of the commodity, lauding Dangote Cement for its leading efforts in the integration policy introduced in the country.
Minister for Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi who leads a team of the federal government to the Dangote Cement plants in Ibese, Ogun State at the weekend said the government expressed satisfaction with the leadership roles exhibited by the firm in executing the policy in the cement industry.
The Group Managing Director of Dangote Cement, Onne Van der Weijde had last month while presenting the financial results of the company for 2016, declared that the Company had commenced exportation of Cement to Nigeria’s neighbouring countries.
“We exported nearly 0.4Mt into neighbouring countries and in doing so, we achieved a great milestone by transforming Nigeria into a net exporter of cement.
This is a remarkable achievement, given that only five years ago, in 2011, Nigeria was one of the world’s largest importers, buying 5.1Mt of foreign cement at huge expense to our balance of payments. We will increase our exports substantially in 2017,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister said it is a success story that Nigeria which few years ago imported over 60 per cent of her cement needs now can produce to meet local demands and still export to other nations, this is highly commendable.
“As you all know, as the Federal government moves to diversify the economy away from oil, two areas the government is focusing on are agriculture and solid minerals, this is why we are embarking on tour of mining operations across the country to know the challenges they face and what could be done to tackle those challenges.
Dangote Dangote cement also operates the largest coal mining to generate power as alternative to gas since the supply of gas has been plagued with incessant disruptions. He added that over 50 per cent of power need of the cement plants are generated from coal.
The Ibese Plant Director, Amando Martines then made a presentation on the Ibese plants, how it was expanded from two lines of 6 million metric tons per annum to four lines and can now produce 12 million metric tons per annum.
Dangote Cement is Africa’s leading cement producer with nearly 46Mta capacity across Africa, a fully integrated quarry-to-customer producer with production capacity of 29.25Mta in Nigeria.
Its Obajana plant in Kogi state, Nigeria, is the largest in Africa with 13.25Mta of capacity across four lines.
The Ibese plant in Ogun State has four cement lines with a combined installed capacity of 12Mta. The Gboko plant in Benue state has 4Mta. The company plans to build new factories in Ogun State (3-6Mta) and Edo State (6.0Mta).