The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of Lafarge Africa Plc (LAP), Lolu Alade-Akinyemi, on Tuesday, said the company is working assiduously to contribute to Nigeria’s energy stability alongside providing power to sustain its operations.

Alade-Akinyemi disclosed this in his remarks when he led members of Lafarge’s management team on a visit to the Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Engr Sanusi Garba, in Abuja.

Lolu Alade-Akinyemi said: “Power is the lifeblood of industrial production, particularly in sectors like ours that are capital - and energy - intensive.

“As part of our cement plant expansion project, Lafarge Africa constructed a 90MW gas-fired power plant at our Ewekoro cement plant in Ogun State and obtained a captive power plant license to operate the power plant in 2012 from the Commission.

“At present, our Ewekoro facility requires around 65MW of power, leaving approximately 25MW of excess capacity.

“Our vision is to see this surplus channelled to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the surrounding communities.

“By doing so, we believe we can foster local economic growth and help address the significant energy deficit that remains a barrier to Nigeria’s industrialisation.

“Lafarge Africa’s investments in power are not merely about ensuring energy supply for our operations; they are part of a broader strategy to contribute meaningfully to Nigeria’s energy ecosystem.

“We are keen to leverage NERC’s unparalleled regulatory expertise to ensure that our projects are optimised not only for business efficiency but also for national energy stability.

“Our objective is to maximise both the return on our investments and the benefit to the communities where we operate.”

Engr. Sanusi thanked the Lafarge MD for the visit and pledged the commission’s readiness to work with LAP to realise its objectives in a mutually beneficial manner.

He went on to mandate the setting up of two technical committees with membership drawn from NERC, Lafarge Africa Plc and other market stakeholders to identify workable solutions to unlocking the identified potentials and to also resolve existing bottlenecks hampering optimisation of Lafarge’s production capacity.

He equally commended Lafarge for providing sustainable employment opportunities to thousands of Nigerians and its contributions to enhance energy availability in the country.