By Princewill Ekwujuru

The Management of Dangote Cement said the newly introduced cement,  3X,  represents, “Xtra strength; ‘Xtra life and Xtra yield  which is  for the  safety of human lives rather than profits.

The company said that this brand will make the company  the only cement company in Nigeria that is producing the 42.5R cement grade locally.

Group Managing Director, Dangote Cement Plc, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, who unveiled the new cement bag, said Dangote is committed to the safety of human lives rather than maximising profits. He maintained that incidences of building collapses in the country do not only destroy lives and properties, but also bring about huge economic losses to the nation.

Edwin said most of the building collapses in the nation were caused by varied factors among which poor quality cement is significant, pointing out that the lifetime investment by Dangote was to further demonstrate the company’s effort to guard against unfortunate incidents of failure of buildings and the attendant loss of lives and property.

He said, “Dangote has since stopped the production of the 32.5 lower cement grade,” saying as a corporate organisation, it values human lives rather than just making money. According to him, “This is why we are focusing heavily on 42.5 cement grade, because we believe as a responsible organisation, human life is more precious than making profits. The introduction of Dangote 42.5, X cement, is not to dominate the cement industry,  but to follow the acceptable global trend, which has also been adopted by West African countries like Ghana, where the focus is shifting towards the 42.5 cement grade as the preferred quality of cement for building and construction activities.”

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), also on Tuesday formally gave approval to Dangote Cement Plc to commence the rolling out of 42.5 higher grade of cement into the Nigerian market.

The agency said it had inspected the company’s manufacturing facilities across the country and found the processes to have been upgraded to efficiently produce the 42.5 cement grade, which provides higher strength in building and construction.

SON made this declaration during Dangote’s pre-media launch of its newly-introduced 42.5 cement grade, Dangote 3X cement, in Lagos, stating that the indigenous cement manufacturer had been given full certification by the standards agency to produce the high quality cement.

The SON Director General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, who was represented by an enforcement official of the agency, Mr. Adeoye Onipede, commended the move by Dangote to increase its value proposition to Nigerians with the new product and urged the company to keep abiding by the strictest manufacturing standards.

Describing the features of the Dangote 3X 42.5 cement and the differences between the 32.5 and 42.5 cement grade, the Group Chief Marketing Officer, Dangote Cement Plc, Mr. Oare Ojeikere, stated that the 42.5 cement grade is 30 per cent stronger than the 32.5 cement grade, adding that the 3X is specifically designed according to the block maker’s specification.