The management of Dangote Cement Plc has said that the company is committed to ensuring safety on the road of hence, the training and retraining of its drivers on effective driving test nationwide.
Pathak said this At the 2025 Annual Drivers’ Retreat, held at its Ibese plant in Ogun State, the Group Managing Director, Mr Arvind Pathak said that Dangote Cement would continue to collaborate with the Federal Road Safety Corps and other regulatory agencies to ensure that all training, compliance, and operational processes were up to standard.
He added that these authorities were also actively involved in monitoring and evaluation of their safety practices.
He reaffirmed the company’s commitment to road safety, transparency, appropriate ethical conduct, and provision of detailed clarity on the comprehensive systems and procedures to mitigate against any incident along roads across the country.
Pathak said, ‘Dangote is a responsible organisation that consistently cooperates with the Nigeria Police and other relevant authorities in the investigation of reported incidents with support of all lawful processes.
‘This is aimed at establishing the facts and routinely implement recommendations that strengthen public safety’.
He explained that that every driver employed by Dangote Cement was required to undergo an extensive and rigorously structured recruitment process.
He listed them to include valid driver’s licence class G, background verification of both the driver and their guarantors, comprehensive medical evaluation, including vision screening (eye test).
Others, he listed as blood pressure checks, BMI -body mass index, RBS – random blood sugar test as well as drug and alcohol testing.
‘Other recruitment screening covers usage within a three-month detection window, ensuring identifying any history of substance use before employment.
‘Completion of a two-week intensive training programme, which consists of twelve safety modules, practical driving assessments, and written examinations’, he said.
He noted that in the past two months alone, over 500 prospective drivers had successfully completed this process, stating that only those who met all required standards were engaged and certified to operate any Dangote Group vehicles.
‘Our commitment to safety extends beyond recruitment. All drivers undergo mandatory pre-trip medical assessments, conducted by licenced nurses and doctors.
‘These include regular checks on blood pressure, vision, and overall fitness, ensuring drivers are physically and mentally fit to operate safely.
‘To enforce compliance with our zero-tolerance policy on substance use, random drug tests are conducted routinely across our operations’, he said.
He maintained that the organisation enforced strict safety and behavioural standards, and would apply punitive measures to curb errant driving.
The Group Chief, Health Safety Social and Environment Officer, Dangote Industries Limited, Mr James Adenuga, while addressing the drivers noted that the training was to remind the drivers on safety guides.
Adenuga noted that the regular training was to educate them in the language they understood and teach them how the training mattered to them.
Taking the drivers through some requirement for safe driving a road safety expert, Mr Oje Ebhota explained that the choice of the topic for his paper centered on safety driving habits for accident free journey.
He advised the drivers to be conscious of dangerous overtaking and drive within the driving limit of 60km per hour so that they did not veer off the road and cause accident that could affect negatively other road users.
The retreat witnessed the training of over 200 drivers.
