The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has condemned the invasion of Dangote Cement plant in Kogi State, saying it would discourage investors.
BizWatch Nigeria understands that on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, security operatives, including the vigilantes, on the order of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi, invaded the Dangote Cement factory in the state, leaving several workers in the facility with various degrees of injuries.
Reacting to the development on Thursday, October 6, at a press conference to herald MAN’s 50th Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled to hold on between Monday, October 17, and Wednesday, October 19, the group’s President, Engr. Mansur Ahmed described the Kogi government’s action as unimaginable.
According to Ahmed, it is a drastic action to shut down “the plant that provides job opportunities and economic activities on a huge scale for the people of Kogi State.”
“The action appears to be taken by government and it is alleged to be an effort for some alleged claim on some alleged payment of taxes that have not been made or recovered from the company,” Ahmed said.
He added that the move is totally illegitimate, pointing out that if the State government has any issue against any member of its association or corporate citizen, the appropriate thing to do is to take the member to court.
“You cannot use strong-arm tactics to shut them down or impose very severe restrictions on their operations simply to force them. This is illegal and I believe that what has happened will not happen in a normal operating environment,” the MAN boss said.
Dismissing insinuations that Dangote Cement owners might not have been paying their tax obligations, the MAN chief stated: “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.
“We are totally opposed to that kind of measure because there are ways to resolve this amicably in a legal manner and we hope that the relevant authorities in both the federal and state levels would intervene to ensure that this kind of action is not repeated.”
