The management of Dangote Industries Ltd. (DIL) has said that Kogi State Government has no investment in Obajana Cement plant.
It said the government failed to fulfil obligation for the 5% per cent stake it was supposed to have adding that it also reneged on the tax leverage it was supposed to accord the company.
It thus noted that the DIL owned the cement plant 100 per cent, and that its acquisition in 2002 followed due process.
The company said this in a statement issued by Mr Anthony Chiejina, Group Head Branding and Communications, DIL, titled, ‘Obajana Cement Plant: Separating Facts from Fiction.’
On the issues of execution of the agreement: “The Plant, Taxes, Shares and Dividends, DIL assiduously and at significant cost met all the terms of the agreement between it and KSG in relation to OCP. It built the cement factory, much bigger and better than envisaged.
“KSG could not meet its financial obligations of contributing to funding the plant in any form; neither could KSG fund acquisition of five per cent equity shares in OCP when it was asked on a number of occasions to exercise the purchase option.
“KSG also did not meet its obligations to grant waiver of taxes, charges and levies that it could charge the operations, affairs and activities of OCP.
“Rather, despite being entitled (under the terms of the agreement with KSG) to tax relief and exemption from charges and levies by KSG for a period of seven years from the date of commencement of production, OCP (and now DCP) has paid all due sub-sovereign taxes, levies and charges to KSG since it commenced production in 2007.
“KSG does not have any form of investment or equity stake in OCP, so no dividend or other economic and/or shareholding rights whatsoever could have accrued to it from the operations of the company.”
On the issue of the acquisition of the plant site, it statement said, “After the agreement between DIL and KSG in 2002, DIL in 2003, applied to KSG for the acquisition of land for the plant site, and this application was granted with the issuance of three Certificates of Occupancy to DIL.
“DIL to the knowledge of KSG, paid substantive compensation to Obajana Farmland Owners located within the two (2) square kilometres of the plant site.
“Subsequently, in September 2004, DIL, in good faith, applied to the State Governor for the statutory consent for DIL to assign the plant site to OCP being DIL’s investment vehicle.
“This consent request was granted by the State Governor and the appropriate consent fees were paid by DIL.”
Shedding more light on the company’s engagement with Kogi government, the statement said that, “The investment of DIL in Kogi through OCP was at the instance of the duly constituted government of Kogi, done in accordance with the law of the state and all enabling laws in that regard.
“And the transaction documents were effectively, lawfully and duly executed by the Governor and Attorney General of the State (at the time), after internal approvals were obtained within the government.
“Since the inception of Alhaji Yahaya Bello’s administration in 2016, and regardless that government is a continuum, we have had series of enquiries about the ownership structure of the Dangote Cement PLC as it relates to the alleged interest of KSG; and had several engagements with the officers of the state government including Governor Yahaya Bello.
“At all of these engagements we have provided all the details and information supported by relevant documents, required by the government and the State House of Assembly to confirm our lawful investment,” continued the statement.
It further stated that in 2017, the company was invited by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry, and it made its submission to the commission with relevant documents to support its position.
“We are yet to receive any feedback from the Judicial Commission of Inquiry. While are still waiting to hear of the report of the Inquiry, we were invited by the State House of Assembly on the same matter earlier this year.
“And again, we provided evidence in support of our position that KSG does not have any equity or other interest in OCP or DCP.
“On Wednesday Oct. 5, hundreds of dangerously armed men, other than law enforcement officers, attacked our cement plant in Obajana, Kogi, destroyed our property, inflicted grievous injuries on many of our employees, and shutdown operations at the plant.
“Curiously, on Oct. 6, a day after the shutdown of our facility in Obajana on the orders of KSG, Governor Bello addressed the public and announced that a Specialised Technical Committee, which was set up as part of the recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry had just presented its recommendations, which have been accepted by KSG. This statement makes it abundantly clear that the shutdown of DCP’s plant occurred regardless of the Governor’s own confirmation that implementation of the recommendations of the Specialised Technical Committee was still pending,” the statement noted.
The company said the disruption of operations at the plant caused loss of revenue not only to the company and its customers but also adversely impacted revenue due to both the Federal and State governments.
