Dangote Industries Limited has signed an $800 million Memorandum of Understanding with China's Sinoma International Engineering to double the production capacity of its Itori cement plant in Ogun State from six million to 12 million metric tonnes per annum, in one of the largest single industrial investment commitments made in Nigeria in 2026.
The MoU was signed by Dangote Group President Aliko Dangote and Sinoma Chairman Lin Zhong at a ceremony in Lagos on Saturday, August 1, extending a long-standing partnership between the two companies that has already delivered several major cement facilities across Africa.
Dangote said two forces drove the decision to expand the Itori facility: the Federal Government's renewed emphasis on the use of concrete in road construction, which has expanded domestic demand, and the company's strategy to serve cement-deficient African countries through exports, generating foreign exchange in the process. The expansion aligns with Dangote Cement's Vision 2030 target of raising group cement production capacity to between 90 million and 100 million metric tonnes annually across its operations in Nigeria and across the continent.
The Itori deal is the most concrete capital deployment yet under a broader expansion strategy the company disclosed in March 2026. Dangote Cement's Chief Financial Officer, Gbenga Fapohunda, revealed during an investor conference call that the company planned to invest $1 billion over the next four years to grow production capacity across Africa, with the Itori expansion now accounting for $800 million, or 80%, of that commitment in a single facility.
Sinoma Chairman Lin Zhong described the agreement as another milestone in the partnership between the two companies, saying the firm was honoured to deepen collaboration through the landmark expansion project. Sinoma is among the world's largest cement engineering contractors and has been the primary engineering partner behind several of Dangote's existing plants across the continent.
The Itori expansion sits within a Nigerian construction market that has shown significant resilience despite broader economic headwinds. The Federal Government's concrete road programme, which has expanded the addressable market for domestic cement in public infrastructure procurement, has reduced the historical dependence of Nigeria's construction sector on imported road materials, creating demand that a plant doubling its capacity is well positioned to capture.
At the group level, the investment also signals continued confidence in the Nigerian industrial environment at a moment when foreign direct investment in manufacturing has been uneven. An $800 million commitment to a single plant, structured through a long-standing Chinese engineering partnership rather than a speculative greenfield announcement, carries more weight as a signal of private sector intent than most policy communiqués. Whether the Itori expansion closes the gap between Dangote Cement's current capacity and its 2030 target meaningfully will depend on how quickly construction begins, how the cement export market across West and Central Africa develops, and whether the federal government's concrete road procurement programme scales at the pace the investment implies.
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