Nigeria: Lafarge develops 6th cement research centre
Nigeria will soon be joining France, China, Brazil, India and Algeria as host to Lafarge’s development laboratory, which is targeted at developing new solutions and business opportunities to consumers, disclosed Gilles Rochard, Lafarge's prospective research and development (R&D) director, during a media tour of the group’s facilities in Lyon, France.
“There will be one in Nigeria,” Rochard said, while explaining the group’s plan to launch the state-of-the-art research facility in Africa’s largest economy. “I know Bruno Lafont [group CEO] is pushing for that. In our business, we try to be active in innovations. We don’t research for the sake of it. We research to create products that will add value for our customers,” he said.
In Nigeria Lafarge Africa operates the country's second-largest cement maker and holds stakes in the United Cement Company of Nigeria (UniCem) and Ashaka Cement.
One solution the company can pursue in Nigeria is to reduce the quantity of clinker in each tonne of cement, with a view to making more clinker available for the future and reducing the level of carbon (CO2) emissions, Rochard said. Similarly, the cement maker has unveiled OneCem low-density cement for the oil and gas sector, which needs more complex solutions.
According to Roux, what is critical to Lafarge in Nigeria is to continue to educate engineers, masons and contractors and help design new solutions that are relevant to the country.
