In a move that signals a desire to use the current foreign exchange uncertainties to its advantage, Dangote Group of Companies has established a truck assembly plant in Lagos. The company announced this in a statement on Sunday.
The plant, which is set up in conjunction with China’s National Heavy Duty Truck Group Company Limited (SINOTRUCK), is located in the Ikeja area of Lagos. The statement from the Dangote Group suggests that the facility has the capacity to churn out 10,000 trucks annually, and will employ 3,000 persons when it becomes fully operational.
Dangote, like several other companies, has spent huge sums on importing equipment for its operations. Its trucks, which are important for the transportation of its goods across the country, are made by foreign manufacturers. The company now appears to have seized the opportunity afforded it by the scarcity of foreign exchange to establish an assembly plant, in order to cut out the need to purchase heavy duty vehicles from sources beyond Nigeria’s borders.
SINOTRUCK, the Chinese state-owned company which is collaborating with Dangote on the project, holds a 40% stake in the venture; the Dangote conglomerate holds a 60% majority stake in it.