The Federal Government, FG, through the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, has condemned the Kogi government’s invasion of Dangote Cement in Obajana, saying the Governor Yahaya Bello-led administration is wrong in all actions.
It would be recalled that on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, Kogi security outfit and vigilantes on the order of Bello, invaded the Dangote Cement plant in Obajana.
Unleashing mayhem on the cement plant facility, the governor’s men numbering about 500, amongst other actions, burnt the company’s trucks and vandalised its properties valued at millions of naira.
More so, the incident has left dozens of Dangote Cement workers hospitalised, as the invaders shot at them.
Siding with Dangoe on the matter, Adebayo said the manner the Bello-led administration was going about the imbroglio was capable of eroding investors’ confidence in the Nigerian economy and could rubbish the federal government’s programme on promoting ease of doing business in Nigeria.
His words: “You are aware that we do not like situations like this because it makes a mockery of the ease of doing a business programme 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) is 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.”
