Ex-MD of Dangote Cement Joseph Makoju dies at 73

Former managing director, Dangote Cement Company Limited Joseph Makoju has died at the age of 73.

Makoju passed on in Abuja on Monday.

Born on July 13, 1948, in Okene, Kogi state, Makoju was a Harford award winner of Government College, Kaduna and also a J. F. Kennedy essays award winner of Federal Government College, Warri.

In a statement, Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello described Makoju as a revered administrator who had left his indelible footprint in Nigeria’s political and economic environment.

“Makoju, although fulfilled in age, would be dearly missed as an elder statesman whose role in giving noteworthy counsel to leadership could never be undermined having served as a special adviser to three presidents of Nigeria,” he said.

Bello added that the Okene-born technocrat had remarkable track records in the private sector, which were also worthy of accolades.

Makoju served as a special adviser on electric power to former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo.

He retired as the GMD/CEO of Dangote Cement in 2020, a position he had held since April 2018.

Makoju was the pioneer chairman of the board of the West African Power Pool and a former managing director of the National Electric Power Authority (Power Holding Company of Nigeria).