Dangote Cement Plc has built seventeen boreholes in the communities surrounding the Dangote Cement Plc, Obajana Plant in Kogi State.
The terrain allows for six (6) Obajana, six (6) Oyo, two (2) Iwaa, and three (3) Apata.
Speaking at a Dangote Cement Plc-sponsored two-day workshop for journalists in Nigeria’s North Central, Mr. Ademola Adeyemi, General Manager, Community Affairs/Special Duties, said the water projects were implemented to address the communities’ water needs as the influx of people continues to increase on a daily basis as part of her Corporate Social Responsibility.
Mr. Adeyemi told reporters that the company has a strong relationship with its host communities, noting that the clinic at Iwaa, which was built under the Community Development Agreement with Mining Communities of Oyo and Iwaa, as stipulated by the Nigerian Mining Act, was recently upgraded with new medical equipment.
Last week, at the request of the Oyo community, the Company laid the groundwork for the construction of a three-classroom block with offices, staff common rooms, and toilets to facilitate the launch of a UBE secondary school in the community, thereby relieving the children of the stress of attending secondary school in neighbouring communities.
A recently built borehole was also commissioned during the foundation laying event.
At the event, the Baalo of Oyo, Oba Solomon Obahawu, praised the corporation for helping to develop his community.
In its aim to empower women and adolescents, the company educated and graduated 40 women in fashion design earlier this year. Mr. Wakeel Olayiwola, Head of Social Performance, Dangote Cement Plc, Head Office, stated that the empowerment was one of several such interventions for host communities carried out by Dangote Cement Plc across Africa.
Mr. Olayiwola expressed confidence that the graduates will build a chain of other graduates beneath them through apprenticeship, hence supporting job creation initiatives in Kogi State communities.
Mr. JV Gungune, Plant Director, Dangote Cement Plc, Obajana, Plant, informed reporters that the skill acquisition scheme was intended to help the government’s employment creation efforts and assure local economic development.
