Higher Cement Production Has Helped Manufacturing Sector’s GDP

Chineme Okafor in Abuja

The improvement recorded by cement producers has helped increase the manufacturing sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product from about four per cent to approximately nine per cent, the Group Executive Director of Dangote Group, Mr. Edwin Devakumar, has said.

He disclosed this at the weekend in Abuja when he delivered a presentation titled, ‘The Nigerian Cement Sub-Sector: A Success Story in Solid Minerals Utilisation”, at the 46thAnnual General Meeting, Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers (NSChE).

He explained that the rebirth of local manufacturing of cement in Nigeria had led to a massive boost in mining operations across the country.

According to him, about 33 metric tonnes per annum of quarried materials were estimated to have been required to meet cement production in 2015.

He also said local cement production had created thousands of direct and indirect jobs and has displaced foreign exchange demand for cement importation, which would by now have grown to about $2 billion annually.

“It has increased revenue to government in form of taxes, not just from the cement manufacturers but also from other participants in the value chain.

“Cement scarcity is now a thing of the past as local production capacity outstrips demand. There is now prospects of forex earnings from cement exports to neighbouring countries. It is also a healthy addition to the stock exchange and distribution of wealth to the stockholders,” Devakumar said.