The Management of Dangote Cement has opened two facilities in Lagos and Port Harcourt to boost its exportation of clinkers to neighbouring African countries.
According to a statement from the company, exportations from these facilities would be attracting more foreign currency for the country.
The company had, last week, exported 27,800 metric tonnes of clinker from its Lagos terminals port to Senegal.
It said that the exportation of clinkers would also begin soon at the Port Harcourt terminal.
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, had told the media last week that the export facilities in Lagos and Port Harcourt will enable “…us to export clinker, initially to our grinding facility in Cameroon and then to new grinding plants we are building in West Africa. Not only will these generate useful foreign currency in Nigeria, but they will also help to increase the output of our Nigerian plants. These will help to improve job creation and increase prosperity in Nigeria, creating socio-economic impacts that all stakeholders can be proud of.”
Speaking during the departure of the ship conveying clinker from the Lagos Export Terminal, Group Executive Director, Dangote Group, Alhaji Sada Ladan-Baki, said the increased exportation of clinker and cement to other African countries would not only place Dangote Cement among top clinker exporters in the world, but would also boost Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings and reduce unemployment in the country.
“The beauty of what we have done is that we are going to be generating foreign exchange for the country in terms of dollars and Euros. For every batch of clinker we export, the money comes back to Nigeria. The amount we are talking about is not small.
“Presently, Dangote Cement should either be number one or number two exporter of cement in Africa and the revenue we have generated in the form of foreign exchange is running into millions. We have formally launched the Dangote Cement Export Terminal. We are still going to do another major launch when the second ship is going out of the country,” he added.
Sada recalled that only a few years ago, Nigeria was one of the world’s largest bulk importers of cement, saying that “Dangote has gradually made Nigeria self-sufficient in cement production as well as an exporter of clinker to other countries.”
He disclosed that the company would also be launching its export terminal in Onne in the next few days, adding that the export terminal would enable the company export clinker, initially to its grinding facility in Cameroon and then to new grinding plants the company is building across West Africa.