When some engineers are together and in expansive mood, they often recount the fable that in an uncanny manner rank they next to God. “God created the world and handed it over to the engineers to continually update,” they would say.
Without meaning to be blasphemous, they often underscore the point that after creation, God bestowed it on engineers to always renew the earth. Engineers are wont to note that construction work “from Bungalow to Skyscraper, from Motorway to Autobahn, from Airfield to Airport, the engineers made them all.”
But in all their effusive self-praise, the engineers still acknowledge the support of their professional cousins; architects, surveyors and builders. Beyond the professionals remains the recognition, by them, of a vital ingredient with which they as engineers “renew the earth that God created,” and that vital ingredient is cement.
Cement has a somewhat chequered history in Nigeria. An unflattering epoch in its history remains the cement armada of the mid-1970s. However, the most interesting part of its history remains flattering for it with it, respective Nigerian regional governments in the First Republic were able to build enviable infrastructure of which the multi-storey Cocoa House in Ibadan is a shining example.
One of the cement companies that can tell the story of rural development and urban renewal in pre- and post- colonial Nigeria is Lafarge WAPCO. The company, which provided the cement with which the Cocoa House in Ibadan was built, is today part of the Lafarge Group. The Group, with jurisdiction in Nigeria and Benin Republic, has the versatile Guillaume Roux as country chief executive officer.
Roux, who falls into the category of those whom the immortal Williams Shakespeare categorised as having achieved greatness by dint of hard work, is also the executive vice president, operations in the Larger Lafarge Group. A graduate of the Institut d’ Etudes Politiques in Paris, he joined the Lafarge Group in 1980 as an internal auditor. Committed, determined and dedicated, he worked his way diligently to the top.
His inspiring odyssey indicates that after holding several key positions in the Finance Department in France and the United States, he was appointed the vice president, strategy and marketing for North America in 1996 and later, chief executive of Lafarge operations in Turkey in 1999.
In 2002, he was given responsibility for Lafarge’s cement operations in South-East Asia, the position he held until he joined the executive committee of Lafarge Group as executive vice president and co-president of the cement division, with the responsibility for the cement business in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2006. In 2008, he supervised the integration of Orascom’s operations with those of the Group. Early in 2012, he became executive vice president, performance in the Lafarge Group.
Roux’s tour of duty around the globe is in part a reflection of the global presence and worldwide essence of Lafarge, a French industrial company specialising in three major products: cement, construction aggregates, and concrete. The company has become a world leader in building materials and extracts resources from the heart of the earth to make materials to bring to the heart of life.
Present in 64 countries with 65,000 employees, the Group responds to the world’s demand for housing and infrastructure. Lafarge is driven by the needs of its customers, shareholders, local communities and architects.
The Lafarge Group creates high value-added solutions which encourage creativity whilst leaving a lighter trace on the world. Its Nigerian subsidiary, Lafarge Cement WAPCO plc, was established in 1959 with its first factory in Ewekoro, Ogun State.
At the last Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company in Lagos few days ago under Roux’s headship, the shareholders approved the creation of Lafarge Africa, a Nigerian-listed holding company that will consolidate all Lafarge’s Nigerian and South African assets.
The envisaged Lafarge Africa plc could be the 6th largest NSE-listed company, with an anticipated initial market capitalisation above $3bn. The newly-created entity will have a combined production capacity of around 12 million metric tonnes (MT) comprising Lafarge WAPCO (4.5 million MT), Lafarge South Africa Holdings (3.6 million MT), United Cement Company of Nigeria (2.5 million MT), Ashaka Cement (1 million MT) and Atlas Cement Company, an import operation with bagging capacity of 0.5 million MT.
Prior to the silver lining provided by the shareholders support, Roux had encapsulated Lafarge mission in Nigeria thus: “our commitment to improve the availability of competitive and high quality cements as well as construction materials and solutions to all customers in the country in order to fight building collapse is unabated.
“This has been demonstrated by our recent 2.5 million tonnes expansion in the South East in Unicem and the groundbreaking of an expansion project to increase capacity from one to 4 million tonnes in Ashaka, Gombe fuelled by highly competitive local coal.”
Roux, who holds French and American nationalities, had been on the Board of Lafarge WAPCO since December 2007. He commenced his current role as country CEO, Nigeria and Benin Republic in addition to his position as executive vice president, operations in the Lafarge Group in September 2013 and is based in Nigeria.
Phillip Isakpa
