OBJ Was Actually My Site Manager When I Was Building My 5M Tons Of Cement In Nigeria, 2004 -Dangote
OBJ Was Actually My Site Manager When I Was Building My 5M Tons Of Cement In Nigeria, 2004 -Dangote
Businessman and founder of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said former President Olusegun Obasanjo played a major role in ensuring the completion of his 5-million-tonne cement project in Nigeria, which he began in 2004.
Dangote made the statement in a video aired by Viable TV on Thursday, October 1, 2026, while recalling the construction of the cement plant.
Aliko described Obasanjo as his “site manager” at the time, saying the former president closely followed the project and supported its completion despite doubts from some government officials.
According to Dangote, several government officials had warned Obasanjo not to believe that the project would succeed, arguing that nobody had previously built a cement plant of such capacity in Abuja.
He said Obasanjo nevertheless continued to support the project and ensured that it was completed and commissioned before he left office. Dangote said the plant was eventually commissioned on May 12, 2007, only a few days before Obasanjo handed over power.
In his words, “Anytime we see each other, he (Obasanjo) always calls me ‘my boss.’ Why he calls me ‘my boss,’ which is not true, because he was actually my site manager when I was building my 5M tons of cement in Nigeria in 2004, when every single government official had actually told him that, ‘Look, don’t believe Aliko Dangote. It will not happen. Nobody has ever built that kind of 5M tons in Abuja.’ But Obasanjo made sure not only that we built it, we had to commission it on the 12th of May, a few days before he left office.”
