The battle between Dangote Cement Plc and the Kogi State government has taken a new turn as some organized private sector interest groups and students of Kogi descent have entered the fray.
Okay.ng sourced that the students, on the other hand, applauded the state government’s actions and pledged to support the ownership dispute of the cement plant even in the highest courts of the land, in contrast to the interest groups who criticized the state government for using strong-arm tactics to force the company into submission.
A coalition of Nigerian shareholder associations and other interest groups have responded by denouncing the Kogi State Government for harassing Dangote Cement Plc over its ownership of the Obajana Cement plant.
In order to prevent a total loss of investor confidence in the state, the shareholders pleaded with the Federal Government to act quickly and pressure the Kogi State government to cease harassing investors.
Dr. Umar Faruk, president of the Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Shareholders, condemned the state government for closing a business that offered employment possibilities and economic empowerment for the local Obajana community while speaking about the development.
He questioned why the governor of a Nigerian state would call on vigilantes to raid a publicly traded corporation.
The same governor forced First Bank to close some of its branches in the state by taking exactly the same action. Is employing the state assembly to carry out such heinous conduct, not executive rascality?
In a similar vein, Sir Sunny Nwosu, the founder of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria and President of Boys Brigade Nigeria, claimed that the state government should have used extrajudicial tactics rather than diplomacy and due procedure to hold the corporation accountable.
The Kogi State government was also criticized by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry for its recent invasion of the Dangote Cement Plant.
In a statement signed by Dr. Chinyere Almona, the Director-General of LCCI, the news of the attack on the Dangote Cement Plant was regarded as startling and depressing.
The attack, in the opinion of West Africa’s first Chamber of Commerce, was a result of the nation’s inadequate management of investment protection issues.
It stated that using violence was not the only appropriate means to resolve legal and regulatory issues affecting businesses in Nigeria.
The quote from the statement went, in part, as follows: “The youngsters’ invasion of the Dangote Cement Factory, which resulted in the shooting of factory workers, is regrettable, misguided, and preventable.
We support policies that benefit both the government and business.
Therefore, we shall urge all parties to use prudence and to safeguard employment and propertyas well as production, and government revenues from corporate organizations like Dangote Cement Factory.”
The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture said it was crucial to recognize that Obajana was a sizable manufacturing facility that supplied the economy with crucial domestic inputs (cement) and directly and indirectly employed hundreds of thousands of Nigerians.
Under the leadership of the National Association of Kogi State Students, students have, nevertheless, put their complete support to the state administration.
The students claimed that the Dangote Group had long perpetrated terrible economic injustice on the state’s population in a statement that was signed by Rachael Mojirola Balogun, Chairperson of the Council of 36 States Student Presidents (CSSP), and National President of NAKOSS National.
The state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, and the state House of Assembly should be commended for insisting on correcting what they described as “the age-long economic intimidation and exploitation by the Dangote Group,” according to natives of the state drawn from tertiary institutions of learning across the nation.
They claimed that Dangote had unfairly exploited the state for years, resulting in everyday deaths from either driving negligence or environmental concerns brought on by the company’s operations in the area.
“As natives of Kogi State, we affirm that the Government of Kogi State, under Alhaji Yahaya Bello, should be praised for seeking documentation of a bizarre arrangement that delivered our birth rights, 100%, on a contractual basis,”
The statement said in part a platter of gold to Dangote Group, despite the fact that Obajana Cement Factory was built and taken care of by the Kogi State Government until Dangote offered to work with the state.
“There are documents already in the public domain detailing the economic injustice carried out against the Kogi people in view of an investment that has not for one day benefitted them.”
