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AshakaCem, a subsidiary of Lafarge Africa and member of the LafargeHolcim group, has appointed Alhaji Rabiu Abdullahi Umar as its new Managing Director.

In a statement released on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Friday, AshakaCem said Umar was appointed to succeed Leonard Palka, a Polish national, who has resigned from the company. Umar’s appointment is effective from April 13 when Palka’s appointment ends.

Umar is currently the Energy and Strategy Director for Lafarge Africa. He joined the company in 2014 as the Energy and Power Director responsible for spearheading the development of power projects, including a 300MW power initiative. He holds a bachelors degree in Accounting from Bayero University, Kano and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School.

Based in Gombe State, AshakaCem is one of the four cement companies controlled by Larfarge Africa in Nigeria. Other cement companies are: Atlas Cement based in Rivers State, United Cement Company of Nigeria (Unicem) based in Cross River state, and LafargeWapco based in Ogun State.

Formerly known as Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc, the corporate name was changed to Lafarge Africa Plc in 2014. In 2015, following the $50 billion merger of Lafarge and Holcim – a Swiss-based building materials company – the new leader in the global building materials industry, LafargeHolcim, was formed.

Lafarge Africa is the second largest cement company in Nigeria after Dangote Cement, the market leader.