Chinese company Sinoma has completed a 1 billion U.S. dollars cement plant in Nigeria that has the capacity to produce 6 million metric tons of cement a year.

The plant which is owned by Dangote Cement Group was formally unveiled on Thursday evening by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan at Ibese in southwest Nigeria's Ogun State.

In February 2008, the Chinese firm signed a general contract worth 1.6 billion dollars and the letter of intent worth 1.177 billion dollars with Nigeria Dangote Group.

The Nigerian leader said the country was set to be an exporter of cement because of the 2002 backward integration policy introduced by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

President Jonathan told his audience that his administration would continue to encourage the private sector in the development of the nation's economy.

Chairman of the Dangote Group Aliko Dangote said the new plant would generate 7,000 direct jobs and many indirect jobs, noting that the billion dollars plant is the biggest cement factory in sub-Saharan Africa.

"With the commissioning and full operation of the plant, Nigeria will start exportation of cement to African countries and beyond in a month," he added.

Speaking at the occasion, Wu Shoufu, Sinoma's senior director, told Xinhua that local employment had made a great contribution to the company's rapid completion of the project.

Over 2,000 Nigerian youths were involved in the building process, he said.

"We are glad that this is happening" he told Xinhua.

Qiu Jian, Chinese acting consular general in Lagos, said at the ceremony the mutual cooperation between the two countries in various aspects has impacted the lives of thousands if not millions of citizens of the two countries.

He told Xinhua that the cement plant and other projects built by Chinese companies will be the prerequisites to Nigerian industrial revitalization.

"In today's ever shrinking world, China and Nigeria need each other economically and politically, we attaches great importance to developing the bilateral ties from a strategic perspective," Jian added.

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