Local cement manufacturers in Nigeria have invested about $5.8 billion in the sector since 2003 till date, according to Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group of Companies. Cement importers in the country were forced to invest in local production as a result of the 2002 Federal Government of Nigeria's Backward Integration Policy.
During this period, a total investment of $2.8 billion was made in new cement plants and rehabilitation of old ones.
Another $3 billion is being invested in ongoing cement plant projects, Dangote said in a meeting with the Minister of Finance on job creation. He said as a result of this investment in the sector new jobs have created.
The Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga, had said that about 12 million Nigerians are currently unemployed.
From 2003 to 2009, local cement production expanded from 1.89 metric tons to 8 metric tons, an increase of 423 per cent.
Nigeria's dependence on imports reduced from 77 per cent in 2003 to 46 per cent in 2009 and "the sector is likely to achieve self sufficiency in cement production two years earlier than the 2013 target set for it by the government", Dangote said.
Dangote is the Chairman of the Federal Government Committee on Job Creation.
Cement is currently sold at the rate N1, 600 in the country.
