Tony Chiejina

Group Head, Corporate Communications, Dangote Group

It is no mean task to manage the reputation of the most capitalized, most profitable, and the company with the highest shareholders’ funds in Nigeria for 2015 (Businessworld 100) and, by extension, that of Africa’s richest man. But Tony Chiejina, group head of corporate communication for the Dangote Group, has been able to do this with ease, with outstanding results to show.

Chiejina has effortlessly brought his expertise in corporate communication, backed by many years’ experience in journalism and managing the reputation of two major banks – Zenith and the defunct Oceanic Bank – to bear on his management of the Dangote brand. This is evident in the rave reviews that the organization, with its flagship, Dangote Cement, regularly receives on account of its rapid expansion on the African continent.

At the last count, Dangote has built and commissioned plants in Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, Cameroon, Zambia and Ethiopia, while plants in Senegal and South Africa have been built and are awaiting commissioning. The company has commenced the process of setting up shop in far away Nepal, in Asia.

Chiejina holds a B.Sc in Mass Communication and M.Sc in Industrial Relations from the University of Lagos; an M.A. in Organizational Analysis from the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom and an M.A. in Development Studies from the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, Netherland.

He worked briefly as a graduate assistant with his Alma Mata, University of Lagos, before going into journalism, serving variously as associate editor, deputy editor and acting editor for African Economic Digest, London and African Concord, Lagos. He cut his teeth in the corporate world when he joined Seven Up as personnel manager and editorial adviser, from where he moved to Zenith Bank where he served as head, corporate communication, from 1997 to 2005. He joined Oceanic Bank on the same position, from where he became an integral part  the Dangote Manufacturing Complex in 2010.

Chiejina has received several academic awards and distinctions, including Saizburg Fellows for Gifted Mid-career Professionals, Austria; British Government Scholarship (ODASS) for Graduate Studies, UK and the Netherland Fellowship, Others are University of Lagos Scholar and Fellowship of the University of Oslo, Norway.