The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has condemned Wednesday’s invasion of Dangote Cement Plant by the Kogi State Vigilante Service (KSV), which led to several of staff of the company sustaining injuries.
MAN President, Mansur Ahmed, expressed concern that a state government would take such drastic action to shut down a plant that provides job opportunities and economic activities on a huge scale for the people of Kogi State, pointing out that the action will discourage new investments in the state.
Briefing journalists on the association’s forthcoming 50th Annual General Meeting (AGM), scheduled to hold October 17 to 19, Ahmed said the action was totally illegitimate, pointing out that if the state government had any issue against any member of MAN or corporate citizen, the appropriate thing to do was take the member to court.
He said the association had reported the matter to the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, with a view to addressing the anomaly.
“You cannot use strong-arm tactics to shut them down or impose very severe restrictions on their operations. This is illegal, and I believe that what has happened will not happen in a normal operating environment.
“We have no reason not to pay taxes to the Kogi State government, as and when due, and I am aware that Dangote Industries is one of the highest tax-payers in Nigeria. But, if indeed, for whatever reason that there is a tax for the Kogi State government on Dangote, it has measures and ways of recovery, and there is no justification to threaten the closure of that industry”, he said.
The company owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has 48.6 million tons production capacity, with operations in 10 countries. The Obajana plant is the largest of Dangote’s three factories in Nigeria with 16.25 million-ton capacity.