As the General Debate of the United Nations General
Assembly winds up in New York, USA today (September 27), Dangote employees
across the Group’s operations in Africa are implementing various initiatives
aimed at empowering their host communities and ensuring a sustainable present
and future for the conglomerate.
The initiatives form part of the activities to mark
the Dangote 2021 Sustainability Week, a purely volunteering process among
employees of the Group, with the theme “Building a Sustainable Future – The
Dangote Way”. The Week begins on September 27 and ends on September 30.
The theme for this year’s Dangote Sustainability Week
is in tandem with the theme of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly
(UNGA 76), which is “Building Resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19,
rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of
people, and revitalise the United Nations.” The UNGA is the main policy-making
organ of the global Organisation comprising 193 Members States, among them
Nigeria.
This year’s theme and initiatives, according to the
Sustainability Unit at the Dangote Group Head Office at Falomo, Ikoyi, Lagos
State, are focused around six core UN SDGs – SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 3 (Good
Health & Wellbeing), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality),
SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
For the 2021 Sustainability Week, Dangote employee
volunteers and numerous Sustainability Champions are expected to undertake empowerment
and development initiatives in their host communities across the Group, with
activities monitored by the Sustainability Function. The events will avail
sustainability champions across Dangote operations the opportunity to execute
social projects that align with the Group's community engagement objectives and
with optimum benefits for local beneficiaries.
The Week is aimed to help project the social side of
the Dangote brand, helping to build goodwill and cordiality with host
communities, thereby enhancing the Group's social license to operate.
There would be empowerment and sustainable activities at
Dangote Cement Cameroon, Dangote Cement Congo, Dangote Cement Ethiopia, Dangote
Cement Gboko plant in Nigeria, Dangote Cement Ghana, Greenview Limited, Dangote
Cement Ibese in Nigeria, NASCON Allied Industries (Dangote Salt), and Dangote
Cement Obajana in Nigeria.
Other participating Business Units include Aliko
Dangote Foundation, Dangote Packaging, Dangote Rice Limited, Dangote Cement
Senegal, Dangote Cement Sierra Leone, Dangote Cement South Africa, Dangote
Sugar Refinery, Dangote Cement Tanzania, Dangote Transport, and Dangote Cement
Zambia.
At the DIL Head Office at Ikoyi, Lagos, the Sustainability
Function, in collaboration with the Group HSSE, Human Resources and Corporate
Communications will organise an Outreach Programme for physically challenged
persons at the Pacelli School for the Blind, Surulere, Lagos; and the Lagos
State owned Old People's Home, Sabo-Yaba. This will involve donation of basic
food items and other consumables, accompanied by a pep talk and awareness
session on good hygiene and COVID-19 prevention; in line with Goals 2 & 3
of the UN SDGs.
Another proposed initiative at the Head Office is the
'Waste as Public Health Risk' Campaign, in line with Goals 3, 6 and 13 of the
UN SDGs. This will involve an awareness campaign on the impacts of wastes
(plastic wastes and poorly discarded COVID-19 PPEs such as facemasks, hand
gloves e.t.c. on the environment and public health, and how to manage such
wastes sustainably. Proposed beneficiaries include those at the Mammy Market,
Falomo, Taxi drivers at Falomo bridge, and members of Police Officers' Wives
Association (POWA)/ Army Officers' Wives Association, Falomo, Ikoyi, Lagos
State.
As part of this year's Sustainability Week, the
Volunteers are collaborating with a waste off-taker to station a waste drop-off
Bin at the Mammy market. Leveraging this initiative, over 400 women in the
market will be able to drop off recyclable wastes that they have collected from
the market or in their neighbourhoods, and be paid based on the quantity or
weight of the wastes that they drop off. It is therefore an environmental
stewardship as well as wealth creation initiative for hundreds of women that
use the market, and this is to be sustained even after the 2021 Dangote
Sustainability Week.
To ensure compliance with the various health
procedures and safety protocols adopted by the Group to tackle the COVID-19
pandemic, the Sustainability Unit, in collaboration with the Group Human
Resources and Group Health, Safety, Social and Environment Departments, also
rolled out safety measures for all participating employee volunteers across all
the Business Units for the Dangote Sustainability Week ending on September 30.
These include zero compromises in terms of compliance
with COVID-19 precautionary measures. (facemasks, hand sanitisers, physical
distance, ventilation and up to 50% bus occupancy rate). There is also reduction
in the number of volunteers embarking on field visits (group outreach programmes,
etc); e.g. 50% reduction in the number of persons that would have participated.
The BUs are also to ensure that vulnerable employees
or those who may be at higher risk of serious illness (e.g. older employees i.e.
> 65 years old and those with medical conditions such as diabetes, heart and
lung disease) are advised not to participate physically in these events.
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