Dangote Committed to Eradicating Youth Unemployment
By Patience Ikpeme
Dangote Group, Africa’s largest conglomerate, has reiterated its commitment to eradicating youth unemployment in Nigeria, describing it as the best way to reduce poverty and insecurity in the country.
The group’s Executive Director, Commercial Operations, Hajia Fatima Aliko-Dangote, who spoke at the just concluded Lagos International Trade Fair, said the company’s priority is to create more employment opportunities for Nigerian youths and make them breadwinners of their respective families.
“The desire of our President, Aliko Dangote, is to ensure that Nigerian youths are ably employed, because it is only when this happens, that they can also contribute their own quota to the growth and development of the country. And once the youths are also positively engaged, the security challenges of the country will abate,” she said.
Fatima noted that Dangote is the highest employer of labour in Nigeria, outside the Federal Government, and that the group is passionate about deepening the Nigerian economy through industrialisation, job creation, provision and rehabilitation of essential infrastructure, and the welfare of the citizens.
She said the group’s investment decisions are focused on creating values for all stakeholders, and that it has invested in several projects which are meant to create jobs and enhance the rapid industrialisation of the Nigerian economy.
She cited Dangote Cement Plc as an example, saying that the company remains the continent’s foremost cement producer, with operations in 10 African countries. She said the activities of the cement company through its multiplier effect, provide direct and indirect employment to millions of people across Africa.
Fatima also said that through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) interventions, Dangote Cement has touched the lives of thousands of people in host communities across Africa, by building schools, hospitals & clinics, roads, markets, and vocational training centres.
Reacting to Fatima’s remarks, Dr Micheal Olawale-Cole, President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said Dangote Group has created jobs more than any known private sector operators in the country, and has contributed significantly to providing solutions to the problems of unemployment and by extension, to reducing the poverty levels among Nigerians.
He said the company’s decision to venture into oil and gas would permanently put an end to the issue of petroleum scarcity in Nigeria and contribute substantially to the GDP and the overall economic growth and development of Nigeria.
Olawale-Cole commended Dangote Group for being at the forefront of job creation and for ensuring that its products and services touch the lives of millions of people across the African continent and beyond. He urged other corporate bodies to emulate Dangote in assisting the government, through the provision of infrastructure, even if it must be through a tax credit scheme introduced by the Federal Government.
