Dangote starts work on Okpella cement plant

Dangote Cement Plc has started the construction of a six million metric tonnes per annum capacity plant in Okpella in Edo State on Saturday. This new cement plant and others like it are estimated to cost $1bn and would also help in increasing the $3bn Nigeria has been saving yearly from cement import substitution.  A statement from the firm has it  that this investment alone would increase Dangote's production capacity in Nigeria to 41mtpa.  Punch news gathered that the minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Fayemi Kayode and his counterpart in Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, expressed their happiness over the mogul's decision in building the plant in Nigeria thereby making the country to be an exporter of the product and not importer any longer. They stated that Dangote's idea rhymes with the present administration's  "change slogan" which encourages all and sundry to look inward and start using locally made product instead of imported ones.