The Federal Government has waded into the raging dispute between the Kogi State Government (KGSG) and the Dangote Group over the ownership of Obajana Cement Plc and the alleged non-payment of taxes and revenues due to the state government by the company.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, said the manner the KGSG 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.
ThisDay quotes the minister as saying, “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.”
The minister also said the manner the Kogi State was addressing its relationship with the Dangote Group was a contradiction of the noble efforts of the Buhari’s government to attract investments into the country.
He said: “You are aware Mr. President just returned from the United States of America where he went to address the United Nations General Assembly. And on the sidelines of that visit to America there was a business summit where Mr. President reached out to foreign investors and was inviting them to come and invest in Nigeria.
“These foreign investors follow the news on events that are happening in Nigeria and if they see that in Nigeria that a sub-national government is treating one of our biggest investors within Nigeria the way that they have done to Dangote Cement in Obajana, it will not portend well for us as a country.”
