The Federal Government says an agreement has been reached between the Kogi State government and Dangote Group to re-open the Obajana cement plant.
The Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Dingyadi, confirmed this to State House correspondents at the end of the National Security Council meeting, which was held yesterday, in Abuja.
Recall that the Kogi State government and Dangote Group have been at loggerheads following a move by the State to seal-off the cement plant amid an ownership tussle.
On Thursday, the State government insisted that the plant must remain shut after claiming that the purported transfer of the facility to Dangote was not “proper”. Dangote, on the other hand, said that contrary to claims by the State government, its acquisition of the cement plant followed due process
Responding to the efforts made to resolve the dispute, Dingyadi said an agreement has been reached to ensure the re-opening of the plant in order to give room for peace in the State.
“An agreement has been reached between the Kogi state government and the Dangote Cement in Kogi on the need to re-open the factory and ensure that there is peace in the State”, he said.
“Government is committed to the provision of employment to its citizens rather than closing factories, which will make people unemployed; and we do hope that the parties involved will respect this agreement and come to terms with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the parties involved”, he further stated.
The Minister said the agreement was reached under the supervision of Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to the President.
Recall that a recent research report by Ecobank revealed that Dangote Cement, which is Nigeria’s largest cement company, could become the world’s sixth-biggest cement producer if its expansion plans play out as expected.
