The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) on Thursday urged the Federal Government to take urgent steps to amicably resolve the dispute between Dangote Cement Plc Plant, Obajana and the Kogi Government over land ownership.
Mr Mansur Ahmed, the MAN President, made the plea while briefing newsmen in Lagos, on the association’s 50th Annual General Meeting (AGM) with the theme: “An Agenda for Nigeria’s Industrialisation for the Next Decade”.
The Dangote Cement Factory, Obajana, was on Wednesday sealed by some indigenes over alleged questionable circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the company.
The Kogi State House of Assembly had ordered the closure of the company after its investigation into the Cement factory’s operation allegedly revealed that no valid acquisition took place for the company.
The management of Dangote Cement had claimed that no fewer than seven of its staff members were shot and several others injured by the over 500 armed members of the state’s security outfit, the Vigilantes, that stormed the cement factory.
Ahmed described the development as “worrisome and unnecessary use of strong-arm tactics”.
According to him, the action taken by the state government was illegitimate and could have been appropriately addressed, using legal means.
“The development is very worrisome that a government should take measures like that to shut down a plant that provides jobs and economic activities for large numbers of people in the state.
“The appropriate thing to do is to take the company to court, because this action is illegal and won’t happen in any normally managed economic situation.
“There are ways of resolving amicably and not to use strong-arm tactics.
“We hope the Federal Government will intervene so that such an issue is not repeated,” he said.
Ahmed also urged the government to reconsider its position on increasing excise duty on nonalcoholic and other beverages.
He said that the situation was detrimental to manufacturing competitiveness in the face of inflation.
“Increasing excise duty would compound the inflation situation as you do not increase tax when the economy is contracting.
“In raising new revenue, you need to be sure that you don’t undermine the revenue process itself by putting so much pressure on those paying taxes.
“Excise duty would increase cost significantly and given the current inflation situation, it’s not worth it,” he said. NAN