By Tony Adibe
The President of Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), Engr. Nnanyelugo Onyemelukwe has appealed to the management of Dangote Group of companies to establish branches of their industries in SouthEast particularly that of Cement.
Engr. Onyemelukwe, who made the appeal during the Dangote Special Day at the ongoing 37th Enugu International Trade Fair, said that SouthEast has been one of the company’s major customers.
Emphasising that Dangote has contributed a lot to the economic growth of the SouthEast and indeed Nigeria, Onyemelukwe said they needed to do more for the SouthEast, hence the appeal for the establishment of a cement factory. The ECCIMA President said: “It is obvious that Dangote PLC has added a lot of value to the growth of the Nigerian economy, operating in almost every sector of the economy and still expanding and going stronger.
“While we commend your imprint in the Southeast, we pray that Dangote PLC will establish one of its plants, cement factories, in the Southeast, a region that contributes and consumes so much of your products.
“The trend of Dangote business and entrepreneurship indulgence has spread to many parts of the African continent, employing thousands of people across the world, of whom not less than 85% are Nigerians. Indeed, Dangote Group is the pride of Nigeria and Africa at large.
“The exploits of the Dangote Group show great depth and a high degree of vision, creative thinking, research, innovation, doggedness, and hard work and industry, which have come to be related to what one can describe as the Dangote business and industrial empire today.”
He lauded the company for establishing Dangote Refinery, which, he said, has been a boost to the availability of petroleum products.
According to him, “We are glad that efforts towards bringing the Dangote refinery on stream were not in vain. Our hope is that the refinery will do more to serve Nigerians and save them from the challenges and problems associated with the availability and high cost of refined petroleum products.
“Addressing the recent price of refined petroleum products in Nigeria should be the main focus of the refinery at the moment. The refinery, working with the federal government, must do well to give Nigerians hope of survival.
“May we, therefore, commend the chairman and CEO of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and the management and staff of this dynamic and pragmatic organization.
“For their untiring and adventurous spirit to buoy up productivity for the growth of the Nigerian economy and, indeed, the African continent, I have no doubt that, in the years to come, Dangote Group would become not just a big industrial player in Nigeria and Africa, but globally.”
The chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, in an address at the occasion, commended the theme of the Fair, “Empowering Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs,” saying that it aligns with the need to encourage the sector to grow.
Dangote, who was represented by the Regional Director, South East, at the Special Day, Olatunbosun, however, noted that there are impediments to the growth of MSMEs and their ability to compete globally, which the government can address.
He said: “There are several factors mitigating against the competitiveness of Nigerian MSMEs in the global market. The sheer cost of production, such as energy, raw materials, and infrastructure, remains a major obstacle to the growth of MSMEs.
“We believe that our recent announcement, a growth strategy, that is, Vision 2030, will, to a large extent, solve most of these challenges, especially in the area of factors and energy.
“The goal plan focuses on considerations, industrial expansion, and product development that will deepen Africa’s self-efficacy in critical sectors, such as energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure.
“Vision 2030, an integral aspect of our Africa’s First Project, was born out of our founder’s firm belief that Africa’s future will be built by Africans who refuse to accept limits; people who dream big, work hard, and never stop believing in what is possible.” Ensuring that Nigeria’s economy grows, Dangote said that they have evolved plans to expand their business horizon.
“We have signed an agreement to expand our petroleum refinery from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million per day capacity. This is to double production capacity and take advantage of economies of scale. “We are also expanding our fertilizer plant capacity to 12 million metric tons. The Polypropylene plant is also undergoing expansion, as demand for the product continues to increase.
“Polypropylene has many uses, which include packaging, where it is employed for producing containers, bottles, and food packaging, due to its light weight and water resistance. It is also used in textiles for the making of fibers, ropes, and fabrics, including carpet and upholstery. It is also used in the automobile industry
industry. We are expanding our capacity because of our conviction that Nigeria’s economic transformation must be anchored on local production and industrial self-reliance.
“Dangote Group is proud to be a key, private-sector-driven translator of this idea into tangible economic results. “Dangote Refinery stands as a flagship example of sustained local content development in Nigeria’s energy sector. The refinery stimulates local supply chains by engaging Nigerian contractors, engineers, technicians, and service providers.
“It is creating thousands of jobs while supporting skill development and technology transfer, providing that large-scale industrial projects can serve as a catalyst for national economic transformation,” he said.
