ALIKO DANGOTE Africa's Richest Man Opens $1 Billion Cement Company

Nigerian Billionaire Aliko Dangote

Nigeria’s largest company, Dangote Cement has opened a $1 billion cement plant that is set to boost its production capacity in Nigeria by more than 40 percent. The cement plant is located in Ibese, Ogun State, very close to Lagos, Nigeria’s largest economic hub. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the plant on Thursday, the Chairman of Dangote Cement and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, said that his new plant will produce as much as 6 million metric tonnes of cement per annum (mtpa). “We are working towards making the company one of the eight biggest producers of cement in the world,” said Aliko Dangote. Dangote Cement’s other two plants in Nigeria – the Obajana plant in Kogi and another in Benue state — already produce over 14 million mtpa. With this latest addition, Dangote Cement’s production capacity in Nigeria will rise to 20.25 mtpa. The company is currently Africa’s largest cement producer.

“With the commissioning of the Ibese plant, Nigeria has been transformed from major importer of cement to self-sufficient in production and export,” Dangote said during the commissioning ceremony. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who personally commissioned the plant, applauded Dangote’s entrepreneurial ingenuity while revealing that the new plant will provide direct employment for about 7,000 Nigerians and will also significantly reduce the retail price of cement. Dangote Cement is a subsidiary of the Dangote Group, a mammoth Nigerian conglomerate with tentacles in sugar and flour milling, cement, food, food & beverages, and energy. The group has operations in about 14 African countries.

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