President Goodluck Jonathan will on Thursday, February 9, commission the multi-billion dollar new Dangote Cement plant, situated in Ibese, Ogun State, the company said yesterday in a statement.
The new Plant, the company disclosed, has an installed capacity of six million metric tones of cement per annum.
“With the Commissioning, Dangote Cement’s total capacity will be 20.25 million metric tonnes of cement per annum with Obajana Cement producing 10.25 million metric tones per annum and Gboko Plant with an installed capacity of four million metric tons”, it stated. The opening of the new cement plant reputed to be the largest in Africa is putting Nigeria in the world map as not only a producer of the vital commodity, but also a net exporter in months to come,”? the statement further added.
“We are marking the closing ceremony of cement import in Nigeria with the coming on stream of our Ibese Cement Plant which will be producing a combined six million tons per annum from its initial two lines while addition two line will be added immediately to increase its production to 12 million tons per annum”, the management of Dangote Cement said at the weekend.
President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote told the nation that his organisation was taking up the challenge to lead the way in the effort towards making the nation self-reliant in cement production as the nation was losing a huge sum in foreign exchange on import.
According to him, the desire of Dangote Cement is to ensure that the country not only move away completely from export of certain commodities, of which cement is one, but to strengthen the local production capacity to make her an exporting nation and increase her foreign reserves.
Group Head Corporate Communication of the Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina said, “Considering that Nigeria’s cement need is between17 to 19 million tons per year, by implication, with the coming on stream of Ibese, what Dangote Group alone will be producing will be far more than the country’s demand. That will set the pace for exportation of our products which will lead to increased products, more revenue for the company and better returns for the shareholders.”