By Francis Ajuonuma
Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) and its subsidiaries Dangote Cement Plc and Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals stole the show at the weekend in Lagos when they carted away excellence awards bestowed by the private sector employers’ body, Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) during its 2024 annual night of recognitions.
Dangote Group was recognised with the Visible Impact Award for Resilience & Entrepreneurship; Dangote Cement won the Sectoral Excellence Award in the Chemical and Non-Metallic Products category, while the 650,000bpd capacity world’s largest single-train refinery, Dangote Refinery, won the Ground-breaking Investment award.
Basking in the euphoria of the recognition, Dangote Industries Limited’s Vice-President of Oil and Gas, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, who was on the ground to receive the awards, described them as reflecting the values of Dangote Group and its subsidiaries as top labor employers, showing resilience in the face of tough business operating environments.
He said the award would only spur Dangote’s management to continue following the fine global best practices in business and make more investments in rejuvenating the nation’s economy.
In the same vein, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, and her counterpart in Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN), were recipients of the “Visible Impact in Public Service Award.”
NECA said this year’s awards, dubbed “Defying the odds,” are geared towards promoting and encouraging best practices in Corporate Performance, People Management, and Industrial Relations amongst Nigerian employers.
It explained that this is in a bid to celebrate outstanding contributions of enterprise to national development, noting that the award provided a platform for celebrating the resilience, doggedness, and outstanding performance of employers in Nigeria.
In his welcome address, the President of NECA, Dr. Ifeanyi Eric Okoye, noted that the award ceremony was to celebrate the excellence, resilience, innovation, and unwavering commitment demonstrated by businesses across the various sectors of the Nigerian economy in 2024.
He said the Awards’ theme, “Defying the Odds,” reflected the indomitable spirit of the Nigerian enterprises that had consistently risen to the challenges posed by the dynamic and demanding local and global economic landscape.”
Also speaking, the Director General of NECA, Mr Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, explained that the awards were a statement that, irrespective of the challenges the private sector employers have been facing, “since January till now, there is time for all of us to sit down and just breathe and celebrate the resilience, doggedness, innovations your businesses were able to bring on-board and their contributions to national development.”
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Head of Service, Lagos State, Mr. Shuaheeb Agoro, commended NECA for its remarkable legacy of championing enterprise, competitiveness, responsible business practices, and industrial harmony, describing the award as another remarkable way of motivating employers in the private sector.
