Dangote Cement boosts CSR projects in 16 Ibese communities

Ibese communities, host to Dangote Cement plc, and indigenes of Yewa and Ewekoro in Ogun State are in for better times as the company announced the inauguration of some 19 different corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects for the communities.

The projects cover various social sectors, including water, education, electricity, roads, IT, etc.

It would be recalled that the company had some years ago instituted scholarships for the indigenes of any of the host communities in any higher institution and secondary schools. Over 90 of them have since benefitted from the scholarships since last year.

According to the management, it is poised to making life more meaningful to all members of the over 16 communities bordering the cement plant and that all projects would be ensure to meet the specific need of each community.

Mansur Ahmed, executive director, Stakeholder Management and Corporate Communication, explained that the projects were agreed upon after a careful deliberation and discussion with the communities obas, chiefs and the youth leaders so that the project could be relevant to their needs.

He thanked the obas and other community leaders for their cooperation with the firm, saying it was as a result of the collaboration that made possible the peace and tranquillity being enjoyed in the host communities.

Ahmed promised the community leaders that Dangote Cement would continue to be alive to its social responsibilities and urged them to come forward to offer useful ideas and advises that could propel the company to do more for the development of the communities.

He highlighted some of the projects to included: three domestic boreholes for Elere, Babalawo and Kajola communities; 10 domestic boreholes for Afami, Ajibawo, Aga-Akinronbi, Aga-Owoyele, Aga-Ashade, Abule Oke, Abule Maria, Ijako-Orile, Wasimi-Imasayi and Balogun; four industrial boreholes for Ibese (two) and Imasayi (two); construction of 10 classrooms for Ibese and construction of another five classrooms for Balogun communities.

He listed others as the award of scholarship to 77 between 2013 and 2014 sessions for secondary school, polytechnic and university students who are native of the host communities. The company is also providing community information technology training at Ibese, Aga-Olowo, and Ijako-Orile, where two batches have already finished training, while the construction of Ibese/Ilaro road, and that of Ibese/Itori road are ongoing.

These are aside the grading of community internal road network along Wasimi-Imasayi, which is under construction, and the drain work at Olu of Ilaro/Paramount Ruler’s road, Ilaro, is nearing completion, Ahmed said.

He also informed that the electrification and transformer replacement at Afami and Ibese had been awarded while the construction of 10 bathrooms and toilets with overhead tanks was ongoing for Balogun community. He explained that that the drilling of boreholes and the overhead tanks is completed while standby 7.5 KV generators to complement the infrastructure is awaiting installation.

He stated that one of the core values of Dangote Group as a whole is to improve the standard of living of the people through production of quality household products, provision of gainful employment and the development of areas from where it operates.

The executive director noted that it was therefore not by accident that Dangote Cement decided to lift the host communities and people by providing amenities needed to make life easy for them and that the educational scholarship is to compliment the CSR activities by focusing on education of the children in the host communities as leaders of tomorrow.

He then told the community members that for all the on-going projects, a monitoring team comprising of members of the communities and the management of Dangote cement would be constituted to ensure timely completion while those completed would be monitored to ensure they are judiciously put into good use.