Dangote Cement Plc has inducted 100 newly trained engineers and professionals into its workforce following the completion of its Graduate Trainee Programme, reinforcing the company’s commitment to job creation, skills development and local capacity building.
The inductees, drawn from engineering, finance, IT and other disciplines, completed an intensive 18-month programme combining classroom instruction and on-the-job training at the Dangote Academy, the company’s four Nigerian plants and its head office.
The Graduate Trainee Programme is a structured development pathway designed to groom high-potential professionals for future leadership roles through cross-functional exposure, executive mentorship and hands-on project execution.
During the programme, trainees were deployed across Dangote Cement’s operational locations, where they gained practical industry experience under the guidance of seasoned professionals. The company said several of them have since been integrated into its cement operations in Nigeria and other African countries.
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Dangote Cement said the induction reflects its sustained effort to strengthen indigenous technical expertise and expand meaningful employment opportunities across its operations.
At the ceremony in Lagos, the company also honoured outstanding staff with Long Service Awards and Hall of Fame Employee Awards in recognition of dedication and consistent demonstration of its core values of customer focus, entrepreneurship, excellence and leadership. The award recipients, who received monetary rewards, have each served the company for at least 5 years.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Cement Plc, Mr. Arvind Pathak, said the ceremony was organised to celebrate employees who have made significant contributions to the company’s growth.
“We are honouring some of our staff for their long service, and we are also celebrating our graduate trainees who are officially rounding off their induction programme,” Pathak said.
He commended employees for their resilience amid prevailing economic challenges, noting that the company recorded strong performance in 2025 despite a difficult operating environment.
“Your resilience and tenacity enabled us to overcome numerous challenges and achieve our objectives. More importantly, your commitment and high performance have helped us retain our position as the dominant player in the cement sector—not only in Nigeria but across Africa,” he said.
Pathak added that Dangote Cement remains Africa’s leading cement producer and is targeting a production capacity of 90 million metric tonnes per annum across the continent by 2030.
“Through our collective determination, we have eliminated Nigeria’s dependence on imported cement and transformed the country into a net exporter of cement to several neighbouring nations,” he said.
Also speaking, the Acting Group Human Resources Officer, Mr. Ahmed Ladan Gobir, described the Graduate Trainee Programme as a strategic initiative to equip young engineers with world-class skills and deep industry exposure.
“Nigeria’s greatest asset is its young people, and at Dangote Cement we are deliberate about empowering them with the skills, exposure and opportunities required to succeed,” Gobir said.
Recognising four outstanding graduate trainees, the Programme Coordinator, Mr. Iyal H. Abdulkareem, said the awardees demonstrated exceptional hands-on industrial competence during the programme.
He said their contributions included improving reporting and customer administration systems, undertaking major equipment alignments, carrying out dynamic balancing of critical machinery, and developing templates for tracking key plant performance indicators.
The four engineers—Engr. Mary Nnana, Engr. Ahmad Sunusi Abdullahi, Engr. Ahmed Rufai Ahmed and Engr. Ebenezer Afonja—also played key roles in the installation and commissioning of MIS servers at the Obajana Plant and in deploying cement mill optimisation systems at the Obajana and Okpella plants.
