Reports have it that Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote are in a meeting at the Presidential Villa as part of moves to resolve the tussle over ownership of the Cement plant in Obajana.
The meeting, which also had in attendance Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to the president, and Abdullahi Sule, governor of Nasarawa, is over the recent tussle for ownership of the Dangote cement factory in Obajana, Kogi state.
The meeting reportedly started around 4 pm on Monday at the villa after both men were summoned to appear at the presidency.
The development comes days after the Kogi House of Assembly ordered the sealing of the factory following agitations by indigenes who raised questions about the ownership of the company.
However, during an attempt to seal the factory on October 5, a shooting incident reportedly occurred which left much staff of the plant sustaining varying degrees of injury
The plant was eventually sealed off but reopened within 48hours of the closure.
There were conflicting positions on the number of persons shot, while community leaders in the area had condemned the involvement of youths in the fracas at the factory, which was followed by the shooting.
In an exclusive interview with THISDAY at the weekend, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, condemned the manner the KGSG was going about the imbroglio was capable of eroding investors’ confidence in the Nigerian economy and could rubbish the federal government’s program on promoting ease of doing business in Nigeria.
Adebayo said: “You are aware that we do not like situations like this because it makes a mockery of the ease of doing a business program of the federal government.
“I have no doubt that His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, will reach out to the governor of Kogi State with the view of talking to him.
“The view of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment (FMITI) are basically that if there is a dispute between a state government and any industry within the state, we have the courts of law to deal with the issue.
“We believe that it is very wrong for the state governments to take laws into their own hands to address such situations. The courts are there.
“I understand that there is an original agreement between the state government and the Dangote Industries that called for arbitration in the event of a dispute.
“I believe that all these legal steps should have been taken rather than a state government taking the laws into its own hands. It does not portray Nigeria in good light for sub-nationals to be creating problems for people who have invested money in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, the Kogi state panel set up to look into the acquisition of the Obajana cement plant has said the purported transfer of the facility to Dangote Cement was not “proper”.
(nigerinapost)
