Health Check-up & Medicine Distribution
In October 2023, the African Industries Group (AIG) commenced the establishment of Blood Donation Camps across multiple locations within the country to support Nigeria’s’ blood banks.
The project which was officially flagged off with the hosting of the its first blood camp on Sunday, October 8, 2023 in collaboration with the Rotary Club Eko Atlantic at Ikorodu, Lagos State, is one of numerous Social Impact projects that the group is currently driving across the country.
Only recently, African Natural Resources and Mines Ltd (ANRML), an iron ore mining and processing company in the African Industries Group conducted a health checkup and medicine distribution camp at its host community of Gujeni Village in Kaduna State where over 200 members of the community mostly women, children and the elderly benefited.
A statement by the company, signed by Public Relations Officer, Babatunde Olanrewaju Akeem, disclosed that the medical outreach was part of ANRML’s week-long social impact activities in commemoration of the recently held World Health Day. Beyond the commemoration of the day, the group disclosed that the event was to stress the value it places on the sustainability of a healthy Nigerian population by providing medical care and treatment, creation of health awareness, as well as identifying and addressing health issues in the community.
Blood Donation Camp
According to the statement, by so doing, the group would have contributed to promoting preventive healthcare, reduce the incidence of diseases and subsequently, provide medical care and treatment to people who cannot afford it.
The decision to host these life-saving interventions across the country by AIG is strategic, as it aligns with some of the group’s core values to enhance customer value and show respect for the individual, as explained by the Chairman, Mr. Raj Gupta.
In an interview, Mr. Gupta said AIG runs a business strategy that is inclusive and sustainable, adding that it not only benefits stakeholders but also positively impacts the environment and society, stressing that the group owes its success to the core philosophy of “Building the future together”
African Industries Group, a diversified global conglomerate with a 52-year business legacy that cuts across Nigeria and other parts of Africa, has more than 10,000 employees offering products and services through 11 business verticals.
With headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, the group has been contributing to Nigeria’s socio-economic growth and industrial development in diverse ways that could not be ignored.
“We are ardently committed to nurturing and development of the local environment, beginning from our contiguous communities. This, we strive to do by conducting various social impact activities, which we have been involved in for years under three main areas, including Community Development, Health and Hygiene and Women Empowerment,” Mr Gupta said.
AIG’s strides have surely not gone unnoticed, as the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, hailed the group’s affiliate, ANRML, for observing absolute regulatory compliance that has added great value to its steel production operations.
Visit of Ministers of Steel & MITI to ANRML
Alake who gave the commendation during a visit to ANRML facility at Gujeni, Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State, along with the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, expressed happiness over the development, saying, “the company has obeyed our admonition and in concrete terms.”
Alake, had, before the facility tour given some prerequisite conditions for the issuance and re-issuance of mining licenses to any firm willing to operate in the nation’s solid minerals sector.
The Minister said the company is now a living testimony and example of compliance with the directive, urging other operators in the sector and others intending to do same to emulate them.
“I made the point that we will no longer licence any company that want to engage in our mining sector without any concrete plan for local value addition. Today, here is a company that has hearkened to our admonition and in concrete terms, shown the whole world what local value addition means,” Alake said.
Continuing, he said, “It is not just going to mine our iron ore and export it away but they are going to process and refine it here. So, I am happy that we have an example to show to the rest of the companies that are in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.
“This is a company that is worthy of emulation and I commend the firm for this remarkable achievement”, the Minister said.
The AIG also got similar rating from the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, who commended the group and the ANRML company for making efforts to galvanize the nation’s steel sector.
She said her Ministry’s industrial revitalisation plan has positioned the steel sector as a paramount sector that would receive attention being the catalyst of industrialization and national development.
Earlier, the Group Managing Director, GMD, African Industries Group, Alota Gupta had assured that the company would use its operations to position Nigeria as a global steel producing giant based on the country’s rich natural resource wealth.
Gupta described Nigeria as a nation of limitless potential, disclosing that AIG’s ANRML alone has a mining capacity of over 5 million tonnes per annum.
“Nigeria, is a nation of strength, resilience and limitless potential. The country is blessed with abundant natural resources. We have a mining capacity of over 5 million tonnes per annum. The Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) produced here will be a direct substitute for ferrous scrap currently used as raw material for producing steel in Nigeria,” Gupta said.
“Our Iron ore mining and processing plant is Nigeria’s largest non-oil Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and marks a significant stride in the direction of utilizing this wealth to make real wealth for Nigeria. It will also gradually position Nigeria as a prominent Crude Steel producer globally”, he added.
ANRML boss disclosed that the company alone has created 4,000 direct and indirect employments for Nigerians since it was established.
He further stated and affirmed the Federal Government’s efforts and commitment to drastically reduce the huge importation of steel products into the country annually, and bent on promoting and boosting local production of steel in order to conserve foreign exchange and ensure the steel sector contributes significantly to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Current information shows that the group has made over $500 million investments in Ogun State. It has also spent over $600 million on establishing integrated iron ore mining in Nigeria.
