Dangote deploys technology to curb truck crashes, improve road safety

Dangote deploys technology to curb truck crashes, improve road safety

 

Dangote Cement has stepped up the deployment of advanced safety technology and monitoring devices across its truck fleet as part of efforts to improve driver behaviour and reduce road crashes involving its vehicles.

The company said the technology, which enables real-time monitoring of its trucks and drivers, was being complemented by intensive driver training, strict safety protocols and incentives for accident-free driving.

The Head of Operations, Dangote Cement Ibese, Ogun State, David Idiege, disclosed this on Thursday at a press briefing on the company’s road safety measures, explaining that the initiative was designed to give the company greater control over what happens on the road.

With more than 4,000 trucks operating from the Ibese plant, Idiege said the company had invested in cameras and other state-of-the-art devices capable of monitoring its trucks in real time and helping to detect unsafe driving practices.

“That is why we have cameras in our trucks and state-of-the-art technologies that make us see in real time what is happening in any of our trucks at every material time,” he said.

According to him, the technology is particularly important in addressing practices such as speeding and proxy driving, where authorised drivers hand over trucks to unauthorised persons.

“Proxy driving, cases where our drivers give the truck to some other person to drive for them, and the company has stringent sanctions applied to any driver caught in proxy driving,” he said.

Idiege added that environmental factors, including bad weather, also contributed to some road incidents, making real-time monitoring and driver vigilance critical to the company’s safety strategy.

Beyond technology, he said Dangote Cement was strengthening driver competence by using some of its best-performing drivers as safety ambassadors to train their colleagues.

“We also have a very good rewards system for those who drive diligently without getting involved in accidents. Aside from the rewards and certificates, we also bring those best drivers up to train their colleagues,” he said.

The company’s Head of Human Resources, Muhammed Al-Hassan, said driver development remained a key component of its road safety programme, stressing that only properly trained drivers were permitted to operate its trucks.

He said the company also encouraged safe driving through monthly and annual recognition of drivers who maintained accident-free records.

“For instance, a driver who has been driving without getting involved in accidents is rewarded monthly,” Al-Hassan said.

He added that at the company’s annual safety day, the driver with an outstanding accident-free record would be recognised as the “Safety Person of the Year” and rewarded in line with the organisation’s policies.

While the company maintains disciplinary measures for breaches of safety protocols, Al-Hassan said the broader objective was to ensure that drivers understood and complied with the organisation’s safety standards.

He disclosed that more than 250 drivers had faced sanctions for various safety violations between 2025 and 2026, but stressed that the company’s approach combined enforcement with training, monitoring and incentives.

Idiege also clarified that not every truck bearing the Dangote brand was currently under the company’s direct operational control.

He explained that some trucks previously owned by Dangote had been leased to customers and were now operated by those customers. According to him, trucks no longer managed by the company had been de-branded.

The company said the combination of smart monitoring devices, driver training, safety ambassadors, real-time surveillance and rewards for responsible driving was aimed at creating a stronger safety culture and reducing truck-related accidents on Nigerian roads.