Dangote Group of Companies has commissioned the construction of a US$ 100m truck assembly plant in Lagos, Nigeria as an initiative to boost its foreign exchange and create job opportunities.
Chief Corporate Communication Officer of Dangote Group, Mr. Anthony Chiejina confirmed the news and said that the new plant will be located in Ikeja area of Lagos and will have the capacity to produce 10,000 trucks annually.
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He further stated that the factory was established in partnership with a Chinese firm- National Heavy Duty Truck Group Company Limited, (SINOTRUK). The conglomerate owned 60 per cent stake in the assembly plant while SINOTRUK holds 40 per cent, in a partnership that was formed in 2014.
The plant is expected to create 3,000 direct employments when fully operational. It will save Nigeria huge foreign exchange being spent on importation of heavy duty vehicles.
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Also, there will be room for project expansion in the near future as it meets the national truck demand and will explore exportation to neighbouring countries to generate foreign exchange for the country.
Dangote has recently been spending profoundly on importing trucks to distribute its products both locally and across African countries; it operates the largest fleet in Africa, having over 10,000 trucks for the distribution of its products across the continent.
The initiative of the assembly plant barely comes after the construction of a US$17bn Dangote Refinery, petrochemical and fertiliser plants that is located in Lagos as well. Once operations begin in 2019, the plant will have the capacity to produce a whopping 650,000 barrels per day.
For 10 consecutive years, SINOTRUK has been the largest exporter of trucks in China, securing a sale of 34,000 trucks out of the 176,000 vehicles exported in the year 2014.
