By Chukwuma Umeorah
The Dangote Group says it is tackling the shortage of skilled technical workers in Nigeria’s industrial sector by investing heavily in training locals to assume critical roles previously handled by expatriates, warning that the skills gap could hinder the country’s industrial growth.
Vice president, Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, speaking during a courtesy visit to the refinery by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Lagos Council, noted that, over the past four years, the company has transformed its workforce structure, shifting from reliance on expatriates to predominantly Nigerian staff in highly technical roles.
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“Our fertilizer plant’s central control room was entirely operated by Italians four years ago, followed by Indians, but today it’s predominantly managed by Nigerians we’ve trained,” he said.
“These Nigerians have become so skilled that they are now being recruited as expatriates by international firms, such as a Qatari fertilizer company. This highlights the quality of our training programmes.”
The skills gap, Edwin warned, posed a serious challenge to Nigeria’s industrial ambitions as the nation sought to leverage its natural resources for economic growth.
He explained that the Group’s human capacity development initiatives spanned across its fertilizer, cement, and refinery operations, with employees sent abroad for advanced technical training.
“Dangote also trains technical staff from other African countries at our Obajana cement plant, enabling Nigerian engineers to serve as expatriates in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia, although language barriers limit deployments in Francophone nations.” He added that this exchange had positioned Nigeria as a source of industrial talent for the continent.
To further underscore its commitment to human capital development and promoting home-grown expertise, Edwin said the Dangote Group reserves about 22 percent of jobs for host communities, 50 percent for the host state, and the balance for other Nigerians. This policy, he noted, was supported by dedicated facilities such as the Obajana training centre, developed with German technical experts, and a new facility in Lagos in partnership with Siemens and the Industrial Training Fund (ITF).
These centres, he noted have produced technicians who obtained adequate certification before joining the company’s workforce. “In Lagos, we’re developing a training facility in Ikeja. The space is ready, and we are awaiting equipment,” he stated.
The Group also provides industrial training placements for undergraduates lasting between three and six months, aimed at exposing students to advanced industrial processes. Edwin said this “catch them young” approach was intended to build a sustainable future workforce.
He added that potential collaborations with institutions such as Lagos State University (LASU) could further strengthen technical education, especially in disciplines relevant to Dangote’s operations, such as chemical and polymer engineering.
Beyond manpower development, Edwin outlined measures being adopted to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and promote sustainability.
Fuel Distribution
He stated that Dangote had ordered 4,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks to reduce transportation emissions and cut fuel distribution costs. “We’ve already brought in 200 trucks, with another 200 arriving within days. By day after tomorrow, we expect to have at least 500 trucks in Nigeria,” he said.
He explained that the CNG trucks would enable fuel to be delivered to filling stations without transportation charges, ensuring that price reductions at the refinery level were passed directly to consumers. “If a filling station in Maiduguri receives our fuel without transportation costs, the lower price directly benefits customers,” Edwin noted.
On crude oil supply to the refinery, Edwin said that despite Nigeria producing about 1.5 million barrels per day, the company still faced challenges in securing adequate local supply for its 650,000 barrels per day refining capacity.
“We currently import crude from the U.S. and other African countries, which is inefficient given Nigeria’s production capacity. We hope for policy changes to enable local crude supply,” he said, stressing that refining locally would retain more value in the country and cut costs linked to exports and imports of crude and refined products.
Addressing environmental concerns, Edwin said the company’s operations were designed to reduce carbon emissions by cutting reliance on long-distance shipping of crude and refined products. He added that the adoption of CNG trucks, despite the company being a major diesel producer, reflected a deliberate commitment to sustainability. “Instead of promoting diesel trucks, which would align with our product portfolio, we’ve prioritised CNG trucks to lower emissions,” he stated.
Edwin emphasised that Dangote’s broader strategy was not aimed at monopolising markets but at ensuring efficiency and quality in production. He cited the company’s approach in cement and sugar as examples of its focus on local manufacturing to reduce import dependence, noting that competition from other producers is welcome and beneficial to industry growth.
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