The upper chamber of the National Assembly, the Senate, has commended Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Limited for their efforts in industrial breakthrough, thereby putting Nigeria on the global map.
Shuaibu Lau, vice chairman Senate Committee on Industry, gave commendations recently when his committee inspected the Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Limited, Ikeja Assembly plant.
The visiting team present were, Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipin, director-general of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Sani Musa, director of policy, NADDC, and Felicia Oyebolu, deputy director, Press and Protocol, NADDC.
The committee led by Senator Lau, also had other senators like Sadiq Umar, Victor Umeh, Ekong Sampson and Benson Agadaga on the inspection team.
Speaking shortly after the inspection tour, Senator Lau said he was impressed with what they saw at the assembly plant also stating that the leadership of NASS is ready to push and make Dangote compete with other manufacturers globally.
Lau, while advising the company to make outsource raw materials to local companies, said that they have listened to some of the company’s challenges, and the NASS is ready to help in terms of legislation and policy formulation that will make it better.
“We will come early next year, while we wait for what you want us to do in order to protect you. We are ready to protect you in terms of policy formulation. We thank Dangote for putting Nigeria on the map of industrial nations,” he said.
Also commending the company, Senator Ekong Sampson said “I commend Dangote for what he is doing. Dangote has shown enterprise and courage in what he is doing.”
He, however, advised that he would like the company to look at the company’s attitude toward their workers and compensation plans in times of injuries and other industrial accidents.
Read also: I am committed to Nigeria’s economic diversification, says Dangote
Senator Umeh also stated that he was impressed with what he saw.
“However, you should be able to put into those lines raw materials from local sources. Part of backward integration should be cutting down what you buy from outside,” he said.
Joseph Osanipin in his remark during the visit, pointed out that despite the challenges they are facing, the Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Limited (DSWAL) and other manufacturers are still struggling to comply with the expected backward integration policy.
“I’m optimistic that there will be changes when we visit again for another oversight function in the first quarter of next year,” Osanipin said after the visiting team pointed out areas the assemblers need to adjust.
Other areas the Senate wants Dangote to look at, are in the areas of compliance with backward integration, workers welfare, job creation and outsourcing of raw materials.
Hikmat Bahadur Thapa, group general manager of DSWAL, stated that despite the fact that the company is facing some challenges, they are doing their best in areas of backward integration, workers welfare and other areas raised by the committee.
McDappa Ngo, senior general manager – HAM, appealed for support so that the company can sustain what they are doing.
“We are facing a situation whereby next oversight functions, you may not be able to see us. Several others like us have closed down because they can’t compete, judging from the high labour cost, high overhead and other operational costs.
“We have been surviving from 2017 till now because Dangote has been using money from his other businesses to sustain this. You have to come to our rescue because it is an emergency as it is,” McDappa Ngo emphasised.
He added that in staff welfare, they are among the best, and they comply with the statutory government position on compensation, and labour laws provisions.
“We even have a clinic on site that attends to workers because we prioritise workers welfare,” Ngo said.
The Senate committee members who toured the assembly plant for almost an hour were taken through the vehicle manufacturing processes, including the cabin trimming session, chassis assembly line, paint shop, sales, services and spare parts session amongst others.
Though DSWAL started operations in 2017, completely knocked down (CKD) manufacturing commenced in June 2024 following a commissioning ceremony presided over by the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Built to produce commercial vehicles, covering heavy-duty trucks, medium trucks and light trucks, Dangote Sinotruk is a joint venture between Dangote Group (65 percent), Sinotruk of China (30 percent) and Andaz (5 percent).
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