Recession: Dangote Group Fires 48 Employees
Dangote Group has fired 48 members of staff in the heat of the current recession rocking the Nigerian economy.
The sacked were made up of 36 expatriate and 12 Nigerian workers from the group’s headquarters. One worker from the subsidiaries, Dangote Cement Plc., was also affected.
The huge amounts in foreign currencies that the expatriate workers earn had become a burden on Dangote, sources disclose to Concise News. This is due to the steady depreciation in the value of the naira and the difficulties of raising enough dollars. It will however replace the expatriates with Nigerians who have acquired the requisite experience on the job. Most of the Nigerians sacked were due to disciplinary issues.
In a letter signed by the President/Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, dated Thursday, October 20, 2016, the firm stated that it was constrained to take the “tough” decision as economic factors had affected the cost of production.he letter, which was titled: ‘Recent Retirement Exercise’, however, appreciated those affected for their contributions to the growth of the group.
Excerpts from the letter
“This year has been a very challenging year for us as a business. The unavailability of foreign exchange coupled with an unprecedented hike in the exchange rate has resulted in increased costs across the organisation.”
“On Friday, October 14, 2016, we began the process of staff cutbacks as it is imperative to review our human capital deployment for the required cutbacks. This would ensure efficiency and eliminate redundancies in the allocation of human resources.”
“This first phase of this exercise involved the cutback of 36 expatriate staff across the Dangote Cement Plc. 12 local staff members in Dangote Industries Limited will also be affected.”
Bloomberg had in its latest ‘Billionaire Index’ reported that Dangote had lost $5.4bn of his fortune this year. This is due to the fall in the value of the naira.
