The Nigerian federal government has officially confirmed that the country has attained self-sufficiency in the production of cement and is now an exporter of the commodity.
It ascribed the feat to
Onne Van der Weijde, group managing director of Dangote Cement, presenting the financial results of the company for 2016, said the company had started cement exports to Nigeria’s neighbouring countries.
“We exported nearly 0.4 million tonnes 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 in 2011 Nigeria was one of the world’s largest importers, buying 5.1 million tonnes of foreign cement at huge expense to our balance of payments. We will increase our exports substantially in 2017.”
Meanwhile, Dr Kayode Fayemi, Minister for Solid Minerals Development, said it is a success story that Nigeria, which few years ago imported over 60% of her cement needs, can now produce to meet local demands and still export to other nations, this is highly commendable.
He said: “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.
“What Dangote is doing is marvellous. We need to commend them. The way they led the backward integration policy to turn around our fortunes in the cement industry. I am delighted to see the development here bigger that what I saw the last time. And we are looking at how we can replicate the successes in the cement industry in other non-oil sectors of our economy.”
Dr Fayemi said that besides the mining operations, the government is also trying to see how the big plants are being environmentally friendly as observed in Dangote Cement.
“We need to collaborate and partner in these areas.At this time that government is trying to reduce the dependence on oil. We need to turn around our mineral resources just as what obtained in cement sector. When you look at our solid mineral industry, there is a wide gap between what we can produce and what is consumed, importation in these sector is huge.”
Welcoming the Minister and his delegation, Joseph Makoju, the honourary adviser to the president of Dangote Group,. explained that Dangote Cement operates the largest cement mining operations across the country.
It also operates the largest coal mining to generate power as an alternative to gas since the supply of gas has been plagued with incessant disruptions. He added that over 50% of thepower need of the cement plants are generated from coal.
The Minister had visited the Dangote Cement plants in Ibese, Ogun State, where Amando Martines, plant director, explained how the plants has expended from two lines of 6 million tonnes/year to four lines that can now produce 12 million tonnes/year.
Dangote Cement is Africa's leading cement producer with nearly 46 million tonnes/year capacity across Africa, and is a fully integrated quarry-to-customer producer with a production capacity of 29.25 million tonnes/year in Nigeria.
Its Obajana plant in Kogi state, Nigeria, is the largest in Africa with 13.25 million tonnes/year of capacity across four lines.
The Gboko plant in Benue state has 4 million tonnes/year, and the company plans to build new factories in Ogun State (3-6 million tonnes/year) and Edo State (6million tonnes/year).
In addition, Dangotehas invested several billion dollars to build manufacturing plants and import/grinding terminals across Africa.
These include operations are in Cameroon (1.5 million tonnes/year clinker grinding); Congo (1.5 million tonnes/year); Ghana (1 million tonnes/year import); Ethiopia (2.5 million tonnes/year); Senegal (1.5 million tonnes/year); Sierra Leone (0.7 million tonnes/year import); South Africa (3.3 million tonnes/year); Tanzania (3 million tonnes/year), and Zambia (1.5 million tonnes/year).
