Dangote Cement Plc has inducted almost 200 newly trained engineers and other professionals into its workforce following the successful completion of its Graduate Trainee Programme, reaffirming the company’s commitment to job creation, skills development, and local capacity building in Nigeria.

The trainees, drawn from various engineering, finance, IT and other disciplines, were formally inducted over the weekend after completing an intensive 18 month training programme which entails both classroom and on-the-job learning was conducted at Dangote Academy and across the 4 plants locations in Nigeria and the Head Office. The Graduate Trainee Programme is a structured development journey designed to groom high potential professionals for future leadership roles through cross functional exposure, classroom instruction, executive mentorship, and hands on project execution.

During the programme, the trainees were deployed across Dangote Cement’s plants and operational locations, where they acquired practical industry experience and benefited from the mentorship of seasoned professionals within the organisation. The company noted that several of the trainees have since been integrated across its cement operations in Nigeria and other African countries.

Dangote Cement stated that the induction of the engineers reflects its sustained commitment to providing meaningful employment opportunities and strengthening indigenous technical expertise across its operations.

In addition to the induction ceremony, the company honoured outstanding staff with Long Service Awards and Hall of Fame Employee Awards in recognition of their dedication and consistent demonstration of Dangote Cement’s core values of customer focus, entrepreneurship, excellence, and leadership. The award recipients, who received substantial monetary rewards, have each served the company for a minimum of five years.

Speaking at the ceremony held in Lagos, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Cement Plc, Mr. Arvind Pathak, said the event was organised to celebrate employees who have made significant contributions to the company’s growth and success.

“We are honouring some of our staff for their long service to the company, and we are also celebrating our graduate trainees who are officially rounding off their induction programme,” Pathak said.

He commended employees for their resilience despite prevailing economic challenges, noting that Dangote Cement recorded strong performance in 2025 in spite of a difficult operating environment.

“Despite the economic turbulence, your resilience and tenacity enabled us to overcome numerous challenges and achieve our objectives. More importantly, I thank you for your commitment and high performance, which have helped us retain our position as the dominant player in the cement sector—not only in Nigeria but across Africa,” he stated.

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 at the event, the Acting Group Human Resources Officer, Mr. Ahmed Ladan Gobir, described the Graduate Trainee Programme as a strategic initiative aimed at equipping newly graduated 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. “Through initiatives such as our Graduate Trainee Programme, we are providing young engineers with the platform to build meaningful careers, contribute to national development, and emerge as the next generation of African industrial leaders.”

Recognising four exceptional graduate trainees, the Programme Coordinator, Mr. Iyal H. Abdulkareem, said the awardees demonstrated outstanding hands on industrial competence throughout the programme.

According to him, their contributions included improving reporting and customer administration systems; undertaking raw and cement mill main drive alignments; carrying out preheater fan dynamic balancing; and developing templates for documenting and tracking key plant performance indicators (KPIs).

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, as well as supporting the deployment of cement mill optimisation systems at the Obajana and Okpella plants.

•PHOTO: The newly inducted Graduate trainees of the Dangote Cement, posing with some of the Board members and the Programme Coordinator, Mr. Iyal H. Abdulkareem, at the induction ceremony and Long Service Awards / Hall of Fame Employee Awards held in Lagos over the weekend

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