€Lafarge Nigeria Plc has said it will invest the sum of €1bn (about N212.83bn) within the next three years to boost cement production in Nigeria.
The amount will bring its total investments commitment in the cement sector to €2bn (N425.66bn) following the €1bn it invested between 2008 and 2012. The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria and Benin Republic, Guillaume Roux, disclosed the figure during a chat with journalists in Abuja.
He said the amount would enable the company to increase its investment in the country by doubling the existing cement production capacity from the current eight million metric tonnes to 16 million metric tonnes within the next three to four years.
For instance, he said the company’s plants in Calabar and in the North were being expanded to boost its level of cement production in the country.
This, according to him, is aimed at supporting the backward integration policy of the Federal Government in cement production.
Roux said the need to increase the company’s investment in the country arose from the fact that Nigeria is one of the fastest growing markets in cement production.
He said,
“Lafarge has presence in 60 countries and we have built experience overtime, which we are willing to bring to Nigeria. We believe we will make a big difference.
“We have a global presence which allows us to reach all our customers and we have invested a lot. We invested about a billion euro and we will double our presence in the number of plants that we have.
“When we make investments, we are looking at a long time and we are looking at the industrial development in the country where we are investing.”