Dangote Limited has claimed 100 per cent ownership of Obajana Cement but admitted that the Kogi government incorporated the company.

The Dangote firm disclosed this in a statement titled, ‘Obajana Cement Plant: Separating Facts from Fiction’.

The statement noted that in 1992, the Kogi government incorporated Obajana Cement PLC (OCP) as a public limited liability company but insisted that the Kogi government had no equity interest in Obajana Cement Plc and that the company had been paying relevant taxes, levies and charges to the government since it started production in 2007.

The firm lamented that the shutdown of “our plant has materially jeopardised the economic well-being of our country without any regard for its significant consequences,” noting that while reserving its rights to proceed to arbitration per the extant agreement, it had reported the “unlawful invasion and the consequential adverse effects of same to all the relevant authorities,” including the federal government which had “intervened” in the matter.

According to Dangote, the Obajana plant was built and acquired solely by Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) in 2003, “well after it had acquired the shares in Obajana Cement Company in 2002, following the legally binding” agreement it entered into with the Kogi government.

“DIL was issued three certificates of occupancy in its name after payment of necessary fees and compensation to landowners. The plant and machinery were conceived, designed, procured, built, and paid for solely by DIL, again, well after it acquired the shares in Obajana Cement Company,” Dangote explained. 

It further stated that the limestone and other minerals used by the Obajana Cement plant belonged to the federal government, which has the authority to grant licences to extract and mine the resources.

“After the agreement with the KSG, DIL applied for and obtained mining leases over the said limestone from FGN, at its cost and has complied with the terms of the leases since inception,” Dangote stated.

The company said the government of Kogi had no minerals and assets to provide and only invited DIL, as most responsible governments do, to come into the state and invest in a manner that would create employment, develop the state, and earn taxes.

(NAN)