Senate lauds Dangote investments in truck assembly, seeks more local content

Senate lauds Dangote investments in truck assembly, seeks more local content

 

The Senate has commended Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Limited for their efforts in industrial breakthrough and putting Nigeria on the global truck assembly map.

Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Industry, Senator Shuaibu Lau, gave the commendation when the committee inspected the Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Limited at the Ikeja assembly plant, Lagos.

Also part of the vising team are the Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council, NADDC, Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipin; Director of Policy at the NADDC, Mr Sani Musa, and Deputy Director of Press and Protocol at the NADDC, Mrs Felicia Oyebolu.

The committee, which also had Senator Sadiq Umar, Senator Victor Umeh, Senator Ekong Sampson and Senator Benson Agadaga on the inspection team, urged the company to do more in the areas of local content through outsourcing, backward integration and workers welfare.

Speaking shortly after the inspection tour, Senator Lau said he was impressed with what they saw at the assembly plant.

He said, “Leadership of NASS is ready to push and make Dangote compete with other manufacturers globally.”

Advising the company to make outsourcing of raw materials to local companies, Lau added, “We have listened to some of your challenges. The NASS is ready to help you in terms of legislation and policy formulation that will make you do better.

“We will come early next year, while we await what you want us to do in order to protect you. We are ready to protect you in terms of policy formulation. We thank Dangote for putting Nigeria on the map of industrial nations.”

Also speaking, Senator Ekong Sampson said, “I commend Dangote for what he is doing. Dangote has shown enterprise and courage in what he is doing.”

He, however, advised the company to look at the company’s attitude to their workers on compensation plans in times of injuries and other industrial accidents.

Senator Umeh, who was equally impressed with Dangote, said, “I am impressed with what we have seen. However, you should be able to put into those lines raw materials from local sources. Part of backward integration should be cutting down what you buy from outside.”

In his remarks during the visit, Osanipin pointed out that despite the challenges they are facing, the DSWAL and other manufacturers were still struggling to comply with the expected backward integration policy.

Noting that the visiting team had pointed out areas the assemblers needed to adjust, the NADDC DG added “I am optimistic that there will be changes when we visit again for another oversight function in the first quarter of next year”.

The areas the Senate wants Dangote to look at are compliance with backward integration, workers welfare, job creation and outsourcing of raw materials.

In his response, the Group General Manager of Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Limited, Mr Hikmat Bahadur Thapa, stated that despite the challenges facing the company, they are doing their best in areas of backward integration, workers welfare and other issues raised by the the Committee.

Corroborating Thapa, Senior General Manager – HAM, Mr McDappa Ngo, appealed for support so that the company could sustain what they are doing.

“We are facing a situation whereby next oversight function, you may not be able to see us. Several others like us have closed down because they can’t compete, judging from the high labour cost, high overhead and other operational costs.

“We have been surviving from 2017 till now because Dangote has been using money from his other businesses to sustain this. You have to come to our rescue because it is an emergency as it is.

“On staff welfare, we are among the best. We comply with the statutory government position on compensation. We also comply with labour laws provisions. We even have a clinic on site that attends to workers because we priotise workers welfare.”

The Senate committee members who toured the assembly plant for almost an hour were taken through the vehicle manufacturing processes, including the cabin trimming session, chassis assembly line, paint shop, sales, services and spare parts session.

Though DSWAL started operations in 2017, completely knocked down (CKD) manufacturing commenced in June, 2024 following a commissioning ceremony presided over by the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

Built to produce commercial vehicles, covering heavy duty trucks, medium trucks and light trucks, Dangote Sinotruk is a joint venture between Dangote Group (65 per cent), Sinotruk of China (30 per cent) and Andaz (5 per cent).