Dangote Cement offers scholarships to 49 students in Ogun

AS part of efforts to contribute to the development of its host community, Dangote Cement Plant, Ibese, has given out 49 scholarships to students drawn from higher institutions across the country and secondary school students, who are indigenes of Ibese and its environs.

Speaking during the ceremony, held at the Ibese Plant, in Yewaland North Local Government Area recently, the Plant Director, Armando Martinez, noted that the cement plant would continue to offer its best to the host community, while revealing that brilliant graduates in the area would be offered employment.

He further revealed that thousands of indigenes of the locality are currently working with the cement plant.

Martinez said that 39 undergraduates were carefully selected from higher institutions in the country and 10 secondary school students from the immediate environment.

“In Dangote Group, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to our communities is our watchword and focus.

“Distribution of scholarships, construction of roads and drainages, provision of transformers and other devices to connect communities to national grid, among others are what will do every year. We award scholarships to communities in order to give the communities part of wealth being created.

“I think everything is not about money but the main benefit is to provide them the opportunity to have better education, to have access to good universities and in the future, if they are good students, well-qualified, we will also offer them opportunities to work here at Ibese Cement Plant. This is part of CSR to ensure good relations, good partnership with our communities,” he added.

The Asiwaju of Ibese land, Hezy Idowu, commended the company for the gesture and urged the company to increase the number of beneficiaries to accommodate more brilliant students.

Idowu said, “It is a very good gesture, but I would like to see the number of scholarships increased because the number of children is increasing.

“I am particularly grateful. I want to call attention of Dangote Group to one particular problem which I want Dangote Group to help us to solve, which is the problem of water supply at Ibese. It’s a very big problem, people are suffering because there is no potable water at Ibese.”