Foremost industrialist Aliko Dangote’s aggressive investment in Africa has earned him the Republic of Congo’s highest honour. He was conferred with ordre du merite Congolas, following the inauguration of Dangote Cement’s 1.5 million metric tonnes plant in Mfila, Congo. The $300 million investment is expected to boost Congo’s economy, Assistant Editor OKWY IROEGBU CHIKEZIE reports.
His joy knew no bound. By the time President Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Brazzaville finished reeling off what the Central African country would gain from Dangote’s 1.5 million metric tonne cement factory, their excitement was justified.
For instance, with promises to directly engage over 1,000 Congolese and also provide livelihood to about 5,000 nationals of the poor Central African country indirectly, it was hardly surprising that the people and government of Congo conferred the nation’s highest honour on Chairman of Dangote Cement Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
At the inauguration of the biggest cement plant in Mfila, an excited Nguesso said Congolese had no option but to honour Dangote because of his huge investment in their country and the potential for his people in ancillary industries as well as its overall impacts on the economy.
Nguesso did not mince words when he described the investment as an industrial revolution within the Economic Community of the Central African States (CEMAC). According to him, the coming on stream of the Dangote cement plant is timely and encouraging, because it is starting operations at a time government’s total revenues had plummeted by as much as 31.3 per cent.
Also, the country’s revenues from the oil sector, the Congolese President said, had fallen to as low as 65.1 per cent since 2015 due to the slide in global crude oil prices. He, therefore, said his country was happy to host the huge investment, which was constructed at a conservative cost of $300 million. He also encouraged other Nigerian investors to take a cue from Dangote.
Nguesso, however, reiterated that it’s only Africans that can develop Africa.
He said his government has observed the operations of Dangote cement in other African countries and how it has helped boost their economies by sparking other allied industries. He expressed the hope that the Congo situation would not be an exception.
Incidentally, the Congolese president’s wish was not lost on the pan-African serial investor. Dangote, in his address, said the plant would boost Congo’s economy, conserve foreign exchange that would otherwise have been spent on imports for the country. It will also create employment opportunities down the value chain.
Giving more details, Dangote, who said his company was delighted to have completed the plant on schedule, added that the 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum plant has more than doubled the cement production capacity of Congo Brazzaville, which stands at 2.550 million metric tonnes per annum, far in excess of national demand.
“It is envisaged that this will contribute substantially to the availability and affordability of cement in the country and the Republic of Congo will no longer need to depend on imports to bridge the gap between demand and supply,” Dangote stated.
He praised the bold economic reforms by Nguesso’s administration. “The construction industry, which is a major sector of the economy, is a beneficiary of your administration’s policies, and has been receiving investors’ attention.
“We believe that our investment will contribute to Congo-Brazzaville’s current economic renaissance under Nguesso’s leadership,” Dangote said.
He pointed out that his organisation received tremendous support and encouragement both from the government and people of Congo-Brazzaville, right from the conceptualisation stage of the cement project, to its final completion and commissioning.
In appreciation of the good gesture of the government and the people, Dangote announced that without waiting to stabilise production, the cement company had already begun its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects with the construction of a road.
The road project, measuring 30 kilometres (KM) around Yamba, would have cost the local government approximately 240 million CFA to execute.
That was not all. Dangote further stated: “We have also disbursed scholarships for students and we are also building a school and renovating a hospital within our host communities.
“Apart from these, we have repaired a dilapidated bridge on a major highway at a cost of $300,000, to enable heavy duty vehicles to cross the bridge. As a policy, we also ensure that we give priority to qualified indigenes from our local host communities in our recruitment drive.”
Dangote informed the gathering that his company’s total cement production capacity across Africa stood at 45.8 million metric tonnes per annum as at end of May 2017. This makes it one of the biggest cement producers on the continent.
He added that the company’s aspiration was to rank among the top 10 cement producers in the world by 2020.
Dangote pointed out that the company’s key operations in Nigeria had significantly improved its fuel mix and this has helped it increase margins across the Group. “It is especially good for Nigeria because most of the coal we are using is mined in our own country,” he said.
The foremost industrialist added that his pan-African operations are performing strongly with excellent sales growth in Cameroon, Ethiopia and Senegal, Ethiopia, Zambia, Cameroun and Tanzania.
He added that the Congo-Brazzaville plant, which began operations in the third quarter of 2017, will be the fifth cement plant that would be inaugurated in the last two years.
As it turned out, Dangote’s aggressive expansion programme has not gone unnoticed at least, by the government and people of Congo, who are the latest beneficiaries of the serial investor’s pan-African investment drive.
The symbolic offer of a collection of green shrub by the indigenes to show their ancestors’ approval of the cement plant was the highpoint of their show of appreciation.
The government and people of Nigeria, Dangote’s home country, are no less happy. For instance, President Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented at the event by a delegation led by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, praised Dangote and his cement company for championing Africa’s economic renaissance.
Buhari said the sterling accomplishment of construction of cement plants across several African countries, made the Dangote Cement brand, and indeed Aliko Dangote himself, worthy ambassadors of Nigeria.
President Buhari said his government has consistently supported and encouraged the Dangote Group in its quest to contribute its quota to the economic emancipation of the African continent, which is blessed with a plethora of natural resources.
“I believe that it is only home-grown practical solutions that can address the myriad issues plaguing Africa today and one of such challenges that Africa has been grappling with for decades is infrastructure deficit.
“I am confident that massive investments in cement production, which is a key driver of infrastructural development, will contribute in no small measure, to addressing this perennial problem,” Buhari said.
He recalled with satisfaction that local cement manufacturers such as Dangote Cement, Lafarge and BUA, have exploited one of the solid minerals, limestone, which is a basic input for cement production.
“The backward integration policy of the Federal Government in the cement sector, which was launched in 2002, has contributed to this success story by successfully substituting imports with local production, we have saved over $3 billion spent on cement importation into Nigeria, annually.
“We have also started using cement for road construction in the country due to its numerous advantages over the more common bituminous road. Again, in this area, Dangote Cement is leading the charge, through AG-Dangote, its joint venture, with Andrade-Gutierrez, a construction giant in Brazil”, the Nigerian president stated.
