Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, has stated that Dangote Cement Plc is making measurable impacts in its Gboko host communities of Benue State.
At the commissioning of Dangote Cement’s multi-million Naira water projects, scholarship awards and youth skill acquisition programme, the minister commended the company for its impactful contributions to host communities.
Alake also lauded the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) for partnering and supervising the training of youths during the skill acquisition programme.
Represented by an Assistant Director of Mines and Environmental Compliance, Benue State, Mrs Adijatu Usman, the minister said Dangote Cement is meeting its obligations under the Community Development Agreement (CDA). He said the CDA ensures that mining companies plough back part of their profits into their host communities.
Alake said, “I can tell you that Dangote Cement has delivered several projects for its host communities.
“The project was a fallout of a Federal Government policy for companies such as Dangote to give back to their host communities. “It is a Federal Government policy for mining companies to reinvest part of their profits into host mining communities to impact the communities, and as a result of that policy, we have had a series of engagements with them.
“There are six of these communities here. We sat with them several times, and these projects are certified community-based projects because the community agreed that they needed these projects. And we are here today because the projects have been completed.
“What we expect is for the communities to see these projects as their personal projects; own them, and protect them, so that they will be sustainable. That way, there will be economic development within the communities.”
Head of Social Performance at Dangote Cement Plant in Gboko, Dr Johnson Kor, said the projects were delivered to communities that have poor access to potable water supply.
District Head of Mbaakpoghol-Mbatyu, Kunav Anum, observed that as a community, his people were very happy to have one of the boreholes located in the community.
The monarch said the community had accessed electricity earlier through Dangote Cement, even as he pledged that the settlement would continue to support the company.
A statement from the company had said: “In further demonstration of this commitment, the scholarship fund has this year been reviewed upward to N28,800,000.00, and its scope has been expanded to cover all six host communities, strictly in line with the provisions of the Community Development Agreement (CDA). This deliberate expansion reflects our desire to ensure equity, inclusiveness, and shared benefits across all our immediate communities.”
