The Group Managing Director/CEO of Dangote Cement Plc, Joseph Makoju will bow out on January 31, 2020. He will be replaced by Mr. Michel Puchercos fro
The Group Managing Director/CEO of Dangote Cement Plc, Joseph Makoju will bow out on January 31, 2020. He will be replaced by Mr. Michel Puchercos from Lafarge Africa, the company told the Nigerian Stock Exchange in a filing. Makoju, popularly called Mr. Cement, is bowing out after 45 years in the cement industry.
Makoju became the CEO of Nigeria’s dominant cement manufacturer in 2018, after first serving as Honorary Adviser to the President/Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, from 2009 to 2018. He was also Chief Operating Officer oF Dangote Cement.
Makoju had worked in several world-class organisations including Shell-BP; Blue Circle (UK), and WAPCO which he headed as Managing Director/CE for about a decade before taking up an appointment as Managing Director/CE of the National Electric Power Authority (now Power Holding Company of Nigeria).
He served as Special Adviser (Electric Power) to the President under two separate Administrations. He was pioneer Chairman of the Board of the West African Power Pool for eight years and remains today an Honorary Member of the board. He is also Chairman of the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN).
He holds a number of awards including a national honour from the Federal Republic of Nigeria – Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (OFR) and a national honour from the Republic of Niger – Grand Commander of the Special Order of Merit (GCSO).
Makoju holds a B. Sc (1st Class) honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Nottingham, UK and an M.Phil. in Mechanical Engineering from the same university. He is also an alumnus (mni) of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Plateau State.
Mr. Puchercos, Makoju’s successor who until his latest appointment, was the Group Managing Director and Country CEO of Lafarge AFRICA (March 2016 – Jan 2020), a company listed on Premium Stock Exchange (Lagos).
He has more than twenty years’ experience in the Cement industry. He had worked extensively at Lafarge, including as the President & Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge Halla Cement, Director of Strategy and Systems at Lafarge Gypsum through Chief Executive Officer of Bamburi Cement, Kenya, Hima Cement, Uganda and Chairman, Mbeya Cement, Tanzania.
