BACKWARD INTEGRATION: Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Inaugurates CKD Plant for Trucks Cabin

• LASG Places Fresh Order For 100 Trucks 

Barely a month after it hosted a top delegation of African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM)  led by the President, Martina Biene and CEO, Dave Coffey, from South Africa, Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Ltd (DSWAL) has inaugurated its completely knocked down (CKD) plant on Oba Akran Avenue in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. The company also promised to further raise the level of local content in its vehicles to up to 60 percent when Ajaokuta Steel Company, which is being resuscitated by the Nigerian Government comes on stream.

At a recent ceremony graced by the top leadership of the Nigerian Senate and the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, reaffirmed the readiness of Dangote Sinotruk West Africa , one of his companies, to play big in the vehicle manufacturing business in the country and leave a mark in the haulage and transportation sectors of the economy.

Welcoming his guests, which included the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; Gov. Sanwo-Olu of Lagos; the Deputy Senate President, Jibril Barao;  Senators and other guests to the inauguration, the Dangote Group President underscored the importance of steel to the automotive industry and the economy.

“The investment in the truck assembly plant is part of our backward integration to add value and reduce imports. I am glad yesterday, Your Excellency, when you talked about Ajaokuta Steel in your speech, and I believe the completion of the Ajaokuta Steel project will give fillip to our attempt to increase local content in the assembly in our lines.

“We have welding and painting shops to fabricate and paint trucks and trailers of different types so as to enhance local content of CKD operations of commercial vehicles manufacturing in Nigeria.

“In the next 12 months, we will begin to fabricate different types of trailers and tippers in our plant to increase value addition of up to 40 to 60 per cent with the goal to achieve domestic self-sufficiency and serve the West Africa regional market,” Dangote said.

He disclosed that Dangote Sinotruck WA Limited is an assembler and producer of four lines of commercial vehicles, covering heavy duty trucks, medium trucks, light trucks and other semi trailers, all of which serve the local transportation industry.

Revealing the ownership structure of the truck cabin assembly plant, the Dangote Group President said, “As you are aware, Dangote also owns majority shares of Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria in Kaduna where we assemble small vehicles. We (DSWAL) are a joint venture company with a total investment of 100 million dollars formed for the truck assembly which is owned 60 per cent by Dangote industries, 30 percent by Sinotruk China and five per cent by Andas.’’

He stated further: “Our aim is to meet the expected current demand of this segment of automobiles required for logistics, consumption, food, and beverages industry in Nigeria as the government focuses on  economic development across the country.

“I am sure we are going to participate in the new production of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) which this government is driving.

“But, we in Dangote, are actually committed to buying 10,000 of the CNG trucks of which 1,500 are arriving this June/July. Already, about 500 are at the port. So, this company has the installed capacity to assemble and produce 10,000 trucks annually and create about 3,000 jobs across Nigeria.”

Maintaining that Dangote Sinotruk is playing “a strategic and key role” to develop the heavy duty truck assembly and manufacturing industry in Nigeria, he said  in doing so, the company provides employment opportunities for Nigerians, in addition to improving the local auto industry.

“We will continue to invest in the plant and achieve technological advancement for Nigeria. We will also continue to promote Nigeria’s economic development, “ he assured.

Speaking just before the official flag- off of the CKD cabin production and leading the guests on a tour of the plant’s production sections, Senate President, Akpabio,  lauded the Dangote Group’s investments in Lagos, in other parts of the country and outside Nigeria.

Addressing  Dangote as “the President of the Dangote Group Worldwide,” Akpabio  commended him for his series of investments that have provided employment for thousands of Nigerians.

“I know as you are investing here in Nigeria, you are doing the same thing in other countries, particularly in Africa . You are there in Kenya, Togo, Malawi, Senegal, Ethiopia and so many other countries. You are our own brand and our export to the rest of the world. May God continue to prosper you,” the Senate President said.

Akpabio also extolled the performance of Gov. Sanwo-Olu in Lagos, promising to lodge a positive report “with the President in Abuja on how you, Sanwo-Olu as the governor,  has been collaborating with the Federal Government to take (unemployed) children off the street through gainful employment.”

Speaking just before the formal inauguration of the CKD plant, Gov. Sanwo-Olu lauded Dangote Group’s decision to take over a moribund textile company and turn it into such a productive investment.

He assured that the state government would not only continue to provide a conducive environment for investments, but would also lead the way in patronage. Without forgetting to seek a “generous discount,” the governor placed a fresh order for 100 units of Howo Sinotruk trucks to bring the number purchased by his government to 200.

“Our role should be that of an enabler; ours should be a government that must ensure that the private sector has what it takes to make those investments…

“Like I mentioned, we have seen the benefits of what they are doing here. We have procured from them the orange trucks (for refuse management) that you are seeing on the roads in Lagos. They were all manufactured and put together in the same premises (here) .

“We are making another order of 100 trucks because they are reliable. We don’t need to go very far. Honesty, it is really about partnership and sense of purpose. And the fact that as a people, we need to develop our economic environment better than we met it. I believe that the Dangote Group of Companies has a good local and African business that we must be proud of,” Sanwo-Olu said.

Dangote Sinotruk was built to produce commercial vehicles, covering heavy duty trucks, medium trucks and light trucks, and has plans to soon commence the production of semi-trailers, tankers and related products.

The assembly plant has the installed capacity to produce about 16 units per day in one shift, or about 10,000 units annually on CKD (completely knocked down) basis.

The array of trucks are targeted at satisfying the demands and requirements of the Nigerian market and the larger West African regional   market.

One of the highpoints of the ceremony was the display of a long line-up of heavy duty trucks produced at the plant.