BREAKING NEWS, Business
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The Dangote Cement flags off several projects to assist its host communities thereby boosting the company’s corporate social responsibility profile
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Jun 8, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT |
THE communities hosting Dangote Cement Plc, in Ibese, Yewa and Ewekoro in Ogun state are in for better times. The cement company has inaugurated 19 different corporate social responsibilities, CSR, projects in their areas. The projects which is regarded as a major boost to the CSR profile of the leading cement manufacturers cover various social sectors, including water, education, electricity, roads, information technology, IT, among others.
The company had some years ago instituted scholarships for the indigenes of the host communities in any higher institution and secondary schools. More than 90 of them benefitted from the scholarships last year. The management of the company said it was poised to making life more meaningful to all members of the over 16 communities bordering the cement plant and that all the projects would meet the specific need of each community.
Mansur Ahmed, executive director, Stakeholder Management and Corporate Communication, in a statement, explained that the projects were agreed upon after a careful deliberation and discussion with the traditional leaders and youth leaders in the communities so that the project could be relevant to their needs. He thanked them for their cooperation with the Dangote cement management, noting that it was as a result of the collaboration that made possible the peace and tranquillity being enjoyed in the host communities.
Ahmed promised the community leaders that Dangote Cement would continue to be alive to its CSR and urged them to come forward to offer useful ideas and advises that could propel the company to do more for the development of the communities. He highlighted some of the projects to included: three domestic boreholes for Elere, Babalawo and Kajola Communities; 10 domestic boreholes for Afami, Ajibawo, Aga-Akinronbi, Aga-Owoyele, Aga-Ashade, Abule Oke, Abule Maria, Ijako-Orile, Wasimi-Imasayi and Balogun; four Industrial boreholes for Ibese (two) and Imasayi (two); construction of 10 classrooms for Ibese and construction of another five classrooms for Balogun communities.
He listed others as the award of scholarship to 77 people between 2013 and 2014 sessions for secondary pupils, Polytechnic and University students who are native of the host communities. The company is also providing Community Information Technology Training at Ibese, Aga-Olowo, and Ijako-Orile, where two batches have already finished training while the Construction of Ibese/Ilaro road, and that of Ibese/Itori road for all the Communities are on-going. Ahmed said these were aside the fact that the grading of community internal road network along Wasimi-Imasayi is under construction and the drain work at Olu of Ilaro/Paramount Ruler’s road, Ilaro, is nearing completion.
The Dangote Group also informed that the electrification and transformer replacement at Afami and Ibese has been awarded while the construction of 10 bathrooms and toilets with overhead tanks is ongoing for Balogun community. He explained that that the drilling of boreholes and the overhead tanks is completed while standby 7.5 KV generators to complement the infrastructure is awaiting installation.
He stated that one of the core values of Dangote Group as a whole was to improve the standard of living of the people through production of quality household products, provision of gainful employment and the development of areas from where it operates.
The executive director noted that it was therefore not by accident that Dangote Cement decided to lift the host communities and people by providing amenities needed to make life easy for them and that the educational scholarship is to compliment the CSR activities by focusing on education of the children in the host communities as leaders of tomorrow.
He told the community members that for all the on-going projects, a monitoring team comprising of members of the communities and the management of Dangote cement would be constituted to ensure timely completion while those completed would be monitored to ensure they are judiciously put into good use.
Meanwhile, the company said it will inaugurate its 2.5 million tonnes per annum cement plant in Ethiopia on June 5, as the company inches towards the mark of 40 mtpa global production capacity before the end of 2015. The cement plant is said to be the single largest investment by an African in that country and the fifth offshore cement plant of the company to be rolled out in the last one year in Africa, coming after Senegal, Cameroon, South Africa and Zambia.
The statement by the Dangote Group on Sunday, May 24, indicated that the government and the people of Ethiopia were excited about the completion of the project and the economic prospects of having such a huge company in their country. It said Haile Desalegne, prime minister of Ethiopia, would perform the opening ceremony at an event expected be graced by top members of the Nigerian business community.
It added that nine other countries would soon join the list of those hosting the Dangote cement factories as plants were in the various stages of construction. “The company is investing $5 billion to build an African cement empire, with factories plants in 14 African countries,” it said.
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Tags: Cameroon cement plant classrooms corporate social responsibilities CSR Dangote Cement Dangote Group domestic boreholes education electricity Ethiopia Haile Desalegne host communities Information Technology IT Mansur Ahmed Polytechnic pupils roads scholarships secondary Senegal South Africa Stakeholder Management and Corporate Communication students University water Zambia
