Dangote Cement Wins FMDQ, FIRS Awards

Dangote Cement Plc won two awards at the FMDQ Gold Awards held in Lagos even as it was recognised by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as one of the most compliant taxpayers. Dangote Cement emerged as the Largest Commercial Paper Quotation on FMDQ and Single Largest Corporate Debt Issue on FMDQ. Dangote Industries Ltd emerged as the “Most active corporate in the foreign exchange market”.
The FMDQ GOLD Awards, (Global Competitiveness, Operational Excellence, Liquidity and Diversity), is a corporate tradition that recognises the resilience and agility of the Nigerian financial markets’ participants.
The award acknowledges the valuable efforts of these stakeholders, whose participation in the FMDQ markets and across the financial market infrastructure value chain of FMDQ’s businesses – Securities Exchange, Central Counterparty and Depository – have positively shaped the course of the markets and invariably impacted the development of the Nigerian economy
Two companies from the Dangote stable, Dangote Cement and Blue Star Shipping were recognised at the weekend by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as being among the most compliant taxpayers. As part of its Special Day activities at the 2024 Lagos International Trade Fair, the FIRS celebrated several business organisations for their high levels of tax compliance.
Dangote Cement was recognised in the biggest taxpayer category in the part of the programme tagged “FIRS compliant taxpayers awards and recognition”. Several speakers at the event including FIRS State Administration Lagos Mainland, Ishola Akingbade, who represented the Chairman of FIRS commended these companies for their high levels of compliance which makes tax administration easy.
Head of Tax Compliance at Dangote Industries Ltd, Dr. Titi Fowokan speaking on the journey towards stated that “Dangote as a Group has a Tax Policy that is based on zero tolerance for tax non-compliance. As good corporate citizens, we comply with all relevant laws, including tax laws. Also, complying with the tax payment statutory deadlines ensures that we do not fall foul of the law, which stipulates penalties for non-compliance.”
According to her, Dangote Group achieved compliance by putting in place world class processes that align with the requirements of the tax laws and regulations, putting into consideration the need to strictly adhere to statutory timeliness and eliminate costs of non-compliance.
“We pride ourselves in the Dangote Brand and seek to promote a tax compliance culture, which demonstrates our corporate responsibility to the government for the provision of public goods and services for the citizens”, she added.
Fowokan explained that the company as part of steps to achieve compliance maintained its best practice tax governance culture, ensured ⁠accurate tax computation and timely remittance to avoid penalties & interest arising from tax compliance defaults. She affirmed that these steps helped to minimise tax audit risks & avoid incidence of tax litigations.