Why it is on record
Foundational cement supplier of the post-Independence construction boom; competes with Dangote Cement and BUA in the post-2010 cement-self-sufficiency era.
Record held
Nigeria's first integrated cement plant (Ewekoro, 1960).
Founders
Lafarge SA (France) — entered Nigeria 1959 via the West African Portland Cement Company (WAPCO) project at Ewekoro, Ogun State.
Headquarters
27B Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Lineage / corporate history
West African Portland Cement Co. (WAPCO) 1959 → Lafarge WAPCO 2002 → Lafarge Africa Plc (consolidation of Lafarge Nigeria, AshakaCem, Atlas Cement, United Cement) 2014 → LafargeHolcim merger 2015 → Holcim divests entire Nigerian shareholding to Huaxin Cement (China) in 2024.
Current leadership
CEO: Lolu Alade-Akinyemi (incumbent through the Huaxin transition).
Deep dive
Lafarge Africa Plc, the merger product of WAPCO (West African Portland Cement, founded 1959) and the Lafarge Nigeria operations, is the second-largest cement manufacturer in Nigeria after Dangote Cement. Plants at Ewekoro and Sagamu (Ogun), Mfamosing (Cross River) and Ashaka (Gombe). Controlled by Holcim (Switzerland) after the 2015 LafargeHolcim global merger. The 2024 Huaxin Cement (China) acquisition of Holcim's African assets transferred control of Lafarge Africa to Chinese strategic capital — a significant Sino-African industrial transaction.