Youth unemployment eradication, our priority – Dangote

Dangote Group’s Executive Director, Commercial Operations, Hajia Fatima Aliko-Dangote, has reiterated the company’s determination to eradicate the high youth unemployment in the country. She said, it is only when youths are positively engaged, that the high insecurity problems in the country will fade away.

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L-R : Dr. Tinuola Akinbolagbe, MD/CEO Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN); Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede (CON), Director, PSHAN; Fatima Aliko-Dangote, G.E.D Commercial Operations receiving the “Outstanding Philanthropy” award on behalf of Chairman, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Aliko Dangote during the PSHAN Gala and Awards night in Lagos recently.

Fatima, who made this disclosure at the just concluded Lagos International Trade Fair during the “Dangote Day”, said since inception, the desire of the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, was to assist the three tiers of government in the country, in eradicating poverty, and the best way for Dangote Group to do this, will be to contribute to eradicating youth unemployment in the country.

Noting that Dangote is the highest employer of labour in Nigeria, outside the Federal Government, she said, the priority of the Group is to create more employment opportunities for the teeming Nigerian youths and make them breadwinners of their respective families.

According to her: “The desire of our President, Aliko Dangote, is to ensure that Nigerian youths are ably employed, because it is only when this happens, that they can also contribute their own quota to the growth and development of the county. And once the youths are also positively engaged, the security challenges of the country will abate.”

Fatima, further said the Group is passionate about deepening the Nigerian economy through industrialisation, job creation, provision and rehabilitation of essential infrastructure, and the welfare of the citizens. According to her, “It is the desire to promote industrialisation that informs our decision to become strategic partners with all the major Chambers of Commerce across the nation.”

She also said: “Our investment decisions at Dangote Group, are focused on creating values for all stakeholders. We have invested in several projects which are meant to create jobs and enhance the rapid industrialisation of the Nigerian economy. Dangote Cement Plc remains the continent’s foremost cement producer, with operations in 10 African countries.

“The activities of the cement company through its multiplier effect, provide direct and indirect employment to millions of people across Africa. Through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) interventions, Dangote Cement has touched the lives of thousands of people in host communities across Africa. The company has built schools, hospitals & clinics, roads, markets, and vocational training centres in host communities.”, she stated.

Reacting to what Fatima Aliko Dangote said, Dr Micheal Olawale-Cole, President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said Dangote Group has created jobs more than any known private sector operators in the Country.

He said the foremost indigenous conglomerate has contributed significantly to providing solutions to the problems of unemployment and by extension, to reducing the poverty levels among Nigerians.

He said the decision of the company to venture into oil and gas would permanently put an end to the issue of petroleum scarcity in Nigeria and contribute substantially to the GDP and the overall economic growth and development of Nigeria.

According to him, Dangote Group has been at the forefront of job creation even as its products and services have touched the lives of millions of people across the African continent and beyond. He then enjoined other corporate bodies to toe the line of Dangote in assisting the Government, through the provision of infrastructure, even if it must be through a tax credit scheme, introduced by the Federal Government.