Dangote Cement Company, said its export to other African countries are targeted to rise to $600m annually.

The President, Dangote Industries Limited, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, made the disclosure while speaking in Lagos during the 2018 Dangote Cement Distributors’ Award night.
“By next year, we will be the largest exporter of cement in sub-Saharan Africa with about $600m worth of cement export to other African countries with limited access to limestone.

“In addition, we also have new terminals coming up at Onne and in Lagos. We are hopeful the congestion at Apapa will soon be behind us, helping us to meet our export targets,” a statement from the group quoted him as saying.

According to him, the group is committed to ensuring that Nigeria becomes self-sufficient in all the sectors where it operates, such as cement, agriculture, mining and petroleum.

He added, “Let me reiterate that our continuous efforts to innovate, create value and invest in Nigeria are borne out of our firm belief in the vast economic potential of Nigeria. This has also informed our desire to invest massively in agriculture in some states across the country.

“Our target is to ensure that Nigeria becomes self-sufficient in all the sectors where we play; cement, agriculture, mining and petroleum.”

On backward integration, the industrialist said, “Our push for backward integration in providing our own raw materials on a massive scale has led to the planned investment of $4.6bn over the next three years in sugar, rice and dairy production alone.

“This will eliminate the country’s reliance on imported food and the foreign exchange outflow that comes with it.”

Dangote, who commended the award winners for their commitment, noted that the ceremony was to celebrate the firm’s valued customers and distributors for their unflinching partnership in ensuring that Dangote Cement products remained the first choice for construction purposes across the country.

“Tonight, we celebrate excellence for 2018 performance and I am hopeful 2019 customers award ceremony will be an even bigger event. We have worked with our customers to agree on targets, we will also be giving out bonuses and working together to achieve our collective goals and objectives. We value our customers and we will continue to treat them as kings because without them we don’t have a business,” he said.