The Management of Dangote Group, has on Tuesday, described as misleading, several reports indicating that Dangote Cement was granted sole approval to export cement through the land borders of the country, by the President Muhammadu Buhari Federal Government,
In a statement, Dangote Group said that it is not the only company enjoying such privilege to move goods through the land borders of Nigeria.
Page 36 had reported earlier, on how facts emerged that despite the land border closure policy put in place, the President Buhari government had exclusively allowed Dangote Cement to resume cement export across the borders.
According to the reports, the Federal Government gave its authorisation for Dangote Cement to export cement to Niger and Togo, in the third quarter of 2020, for the first time in 10 months.
The revelation was made by Michel Puchercos, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Dangote Cement, on an Investor call in Lagos.
However, in his reaction, Dangote Group’s Branding and Communications Chief, Anthony Chiejina, stated that the reports are misleading and mischievous, because they focused only on Dangote Cement as the sole beneficiary of the partial special dispensation.
His words: “Dangote Cement is a publicly quoted company, and complies strictly with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, and Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, full disclosure clauses, and regularly update transparently our transactions to our Shareholders, and it is disheartening that such honest disclosure is being interpreted negatively.”
The statement added that Dangote Cement and other companies, in July 2020, got partial special dispensation to export their products with certain sequence of crossing at Ilela land border, in Sokoto State, and Ohumbe land border, in Ogun State.
“Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Cement, Michel Puchercos, in his presentation on Investor call, held this week, explained that the company is continuously focused on exporting cement to West and Central Africa by sea, through its export terminals.
“He added that six vessels of clinker were exported in the third quarter of 2020, via the Apapa export terminal, while plans are on track to commission the Port Harcourt export terminal, before the end of this year.
“For the quarter, Dangote Cement exported only 69 kilotonnes of cement via the land borders, compared to previous volumes of 180 kilotonnes before the border closures, which indicates just 38 percent of the export volumes.”
More news later…
