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FG reopens Obajana cement despite rift between Kogi govt, Dangote
After being shut down by the Kogi State Government due to concerns over the legitimacy of the company’s acquisition of the disbanded Obajana Cement Company, the Dangote Cement Plant in Obajana, Kogi State, has now been reopened.
The outcome came about as a result of a National Security Council directive to reopen the cement mill that was issued on Friday.
Rauf Aregbesola, the interior minister, told reporters that the Dangote Group and the Kogi State Government had reached an understanding regarding the necessity of reopening the factory. He urged both parties to uphold the understanding.
After a 10-day dispute between the two parties on the legitimacy of the purchase of the cement plant, the plant was finally reopened.
The Kogi State Government had argued that the acquisition of the cement plant by Africa’s richest man did not follow appropriate process in a number of remarks made by its commissioner of information, Kingsley Fanwo.
The state administration contended that the plant acquisition procedure amounted to asset grabbing, which was supported by the House of Assembly.
For its part, Dangote Industries Limited, the parent firm of Dangote Cement Plc, had argued that it had followed the law when it bought Obajana Cement Company.
Kogi State had no equity stake in Obajana Cement Plc, according to a DIL statement.
In the statement, it was stated that DIL alone was responsible for the plant and machinery’s conception, design, acquisition, construction, and payment—well after it had already bought shares in the Obajana Cement Company.
The business added that Dangote Industries Limited alone purchased the site on which the Obajana Cement Plant is situated in 2003, and that taxes have been paid to the Kogi Government year since production began in 2007.
The Nigerian Trade Union Congress, the Nigerian Labour Congress, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, the Shareholders Associations in Nigeria, and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria had all entered the fray.
