NIPR Elects New President, Council Members

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

Mallam Mukhtar Sirajo over the weekend emerged the President and Chairman of Governing Council of Nigeria Institute of Public Relations Practitioners (NIPR).

He won through the Electoral College process where 335 accredited NIPR chapter members voted at the institute’s annual general meeting (AGM) held at the International Conference Centre, Umuahia, Abia State.

Sirajo succeeds Dr. Rotimi Oladele as president and will pilot the affairs of the Council for the next two years.

Comptroller Adewale Adeniyi of the Nigeria Customs also emerged the Vice President.

Other elected council members were Chinkwe Ikenyi, Ohaeri Osondu, Ibrahim Mohammed, Prof BAC Obiefuna, Kabiru Aminu, Joseph Fanafa and Sule Yau Sule.

The rest were Ethel Agbeyegbe, Nkechi Alli – Balogun, Abimbola Raphael, Obot Udoette, Haroun Audu, Emannuel Dandaura, Akin Ricketts and Samuel Oseluka.

Sirajo told THISDAY that he intends to run an open administration that will reflect the essence of Public Relations and particularly more about repositioning the institute in the Nigerian project.

He said he would build on the solid foundations of the Council in the past four years by ensuring an up to date register of members and intensifying the fight against quackery.

“We want to change the perception of the institute by fighting quacks, who are giving the organisation bad name. We will change that by insisting that the provisions of the law are compiled with,” Sirajo said.

The highlight of the AGM was the investiture of 10 new fellows by the Institute and presentation of awards to discerning individuals and organisations.

Q1: Dangote Exports 211kt Cement to Three African Countries

Nigeria’s dependence on imported cement may soon be a thing of the past as Dangote Cement, in the first quarter exported a total of 211 tonnes of cement to Ghana, Togo and Niger.

The company’s volume in the Nigeria also increased significantly by 5.3 per cent to nearly 4 million tons for the period under review.

Announcing its first quarter audited results for the three months ended 31st March 2018 on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Dangote cement’s gross revenue increased by 16per cent, from N208.12 billion in the corresponding period of 2017 to N242.1 billion.

The company’s gross profit for the period rose from N120.36 billion to N144.76 billion indicating an increase of 20.30 percent. While Profit before tax rose by 40.2 percent, from N77.32 billion to N108.04 billion, Profit after tax for the period went up by 29 percent, from N55.8 billion to N72.12 billion.

A breakdown of the results indicated that the total volume of cement sales by the Group went up by 2.8 percent to 6.2 million tonnes with Nigerian volumes up by 5.3 percent to nearly 4.0 million tonnes.

In the reviewed period, Mr. Joe Makoju, was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer While Cherie Blair and Mick Davis also joined the Board as Independent Non-Executive Directors.

Group Chief Executive Officer, Makoju speaking on the results said: “The first quarter of 2018 has started strongly with substantial increases in revenues and profitability that drove excellent cash generation across the Group. Despite a slightly slower start to the quarter, Nigerian volumes increased significantly in March and underpin our confidence that 2018 will be a good year for the Group. Across our Pan-African operations, higher revenue per tons boosted revenues and increased EBITDA margins, with great potential to improve further when Tanzania switches to gas.”

Chairman, Dangote Cement, Aliko Dangote commented: “I am delighted to welcome Cherie and Mick to the Board of Dangote Cement. They bring diverse and valuable experience of emerging-market business, sustainability and governance to our Board.

Expatiating further on the capacity of the company, Makoju said “Dangote Cement is Africa’s leading cement producer with nearly 46Mta capacity across Africa. A fully integrated quarry-to-customer producer, the company has a production capacity of 29.25Mta in its home market, Nigeria. Our Obajana plant in Kogi State, Nigeria, is the largest in Africa with 13.25Mta of capacity across four lines; our Ibese plant in Ogun State has four cement lines with a combined installed capacity of 12Mta and our Gboko plant in Benue state has 4Mta. Through our recent investments, Dangote Cement has eliminated Nigeria’s dependence on imported cement and has transformed the nation into an exporter of cement serving neighbouring countries.

In addition, we have operations in Cameroon (1.5Mta clinker grinding), Congo (1.5Mta), Ghana (1.5Mta import), Ethiopia (2.5Mta), Senegal (1.5Mta), Sierra Leone (0.5Mta import), South Africa (2.8Mta), Tanzania (3.0Mta), Zambia (1.5Mta).”