Lagos — For over a decade, the Nigeria Cement Company, NIGERCEM, once the pride of the people of the south east, has been left in ruins. All efforts aimed at reactivating it, including privatisation by the five south east states in 2002 did not work. Instead, the company is enmeshed in controversy as Ebonyi State Government and the core investor, Eastern Bulkcem Company are battling for the soul of the foremost cement company. CHRISTOPHER ISIGUZO writes

One issue that has been agitating the minds of major stakeholders and indeed the people of the five south east states since the Nigeria Cement Company Plc (NIGERCEM), Nkalagu was sold to its current core-investor, Eastern Bulkcem Port Harcourt in 2002, by the governments of the states through a technical committee is: "When will this our common heritage come back on stage again"?

But unfortunately, instead of giving signs of recovery, the foremost cement company which was sold under the privatisation policy of the past civilian administration, has been enmeshed in one controversy or the other as all the hopes and dreams that the company, which had been in comatose for years apparently as a result of mismanagement would be resuscitated have remained a pipe dream. At the sale of NIGERCEM, which was hailed by many people, it was as though the fortunes of the company and its workers who were being owed over 72 months salary arrears were about to change for the better, but that has only remained a mere wish.

A closer look at the history of this once great employer of labour in the south east and beyond showed that NIGERCEM was incorporated on November 13, 1954 with RC No. 1209. A 400,000 metric tones per annum "wet process" integrated plant was built same year. Following the completion of detailed scientific analysis and investigation of limestone deposits in Nkalagu and the reaching of an agreement with the technical partners, F.L Smidth and its associate, Tunnel Portland Cement Company Ltd, the factory was inaugurated in December, 1957 and went into full production on January 1, 1958. The lifespan of the cement plant is supposed to be 20 years as indicated by the Technical Partners, FLS.

Notwithstanding the fact that the plant has doubled its life span, no major refurbishment or machinery change has taken place over the years. Rather, the company has gone through several reverses starting from the civil war in 1967 to political closure in 1981 among other bureaucratic bottlenecks that culminated in constant change of leaderships.

Before the privatisation, the company was largely owned by the South-East State Governments and between them had a total of 60 per cent share holding. The Federal and State Governments between them held 10 per cent and 60 per cent of the shares respectively. A publicly quoted company with an authorised share capital of 130,000, 000 ordinary shares of 50k each, the company's shareholding as at the period of privatisation in 2002 showed that Anambra State government had 15.21 per cent, while Enugu/Ebonyi State Governments had 15.25 per cent.

Others are Abia/Ebonyi State Governments 14.24 per cent, Imo State Government 15.20 per cent, Federal Government of Nigeria 10.00 per cent, while institutions and other Nigerians had 30.00 per cent. But, after the acquisition of the company by Eastern Bulkcem, Ebonyi which is the host state retained 10 per cent equity in the company, while the Federal Government and the other four states of the South East divested their shareholding. The core investor, shortly after pledged to inject a whooping sum 400 million US dollars or N51.60 billion as at then to rehabilitate the company which had stopped production for a long time. It also claimed to have started working on the arrears of salaries owed the workers.

Unfortunately that was all that was heard of the resuscitation of NIGERCEM as nothing else has happened to it till date, instead it has been passing from one form of controversy to the other, the latest being a strong and consistent efforts to get revocation of the entire privatisation exercise by the administration of Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State, who cited insincerity as his basis for taking to the path. But the core investors have vehemently tried to put a lie on the claim by the state government.

Investigations by THISDAY however revealed that shortly after the sale of NIGERCEM by the technical committee set up by the South-East Governor's Forum to handle the exercise as it was discovered that neither the Bureau for Public Enterprise or the Federal Government was involved in the entire transaction as the core investors were faced with enormous challenges. After the Governor's approval and the payment for acquisition of NIGERCEM, the technical committee packed up without putting finishing touches on the entire exercise, especially as it affected the collection of share certificates from the respective states.

The EBC, however had to pick the gauntlet, apparently in its determination to realise her dream of becoming core investor as it commenced the process of collecting the original share certificates or power of attorney from each of the five South-Eastern State Governments for the purpose of crossing the shares at the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The exercise, according to the company took her five years to go through with the last Power of Attorney from Abia State Government and the registrar's consenting to deal obtained in February 2008. The delay, according to sources at the EBC posed great challenges and indeed put a clog in their determination in moving on with the reactivation of the cement company.

Apparently because of the challenges it faced in recovering the share certificates, it became so difficult to fully swing into action. The situation made the company which already was in the state of comatose to further deteriorate. The management was however unmindful of the fact that greater challenges awaited it ahead as the new administration in Ebonyi State, under the leadership of Elechi, the acclaimed founding father of the state has not given any indication that he was ready to tolerate the seeming 'cock and bull' story of the Eastern Bulkcem Company.

The governor who made it clear even in his inaugural address that he would revisit the privatisation of NIGERCEM followed it up shortly after with the setting up of an Economic Committee with Mr. Dave Nwachukwu as chairman. The committee was given the mandate to review economic policies of the state and how to revive ailing industries including NIGERCEM. It was part of the recommendations of the committee that the state government bid for the revocation of the sale of NIGERCEM.

This development prompted the call by Elechi, on the Federal Government to revoke the sale of NIGERCEM to Eastern Bulkcem in order to pave the way for the revitalisation of the company. The governor who has obviously taken the struggle for the revocation as major project as he sings it whenever he has the opportunity of talking about the economic policy of his administration has consistently expressed regret that the core-investor in NIGERCEM has demonstrated extreme lack of capacity, lack of interest and insincerity regarding the revitalisation of the company.

The Governor said for the past five years, since the sale of NIGERCEM to Eastern Bulkcem, the manufacturers of Eagle Cement, no meaningful effort had been made to bring the company back on stream. He accused the core-investor of having an ulterior motive in securing majority equity in NIGERCEM. He asserted that Eastern Bulkcem only purchased NIGERCEM to enable it obtain license from the Federal Government for the importation of cement adding that the company has no interest in revitalising NIGERCEM. He followed it up with a petition to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

Reacting to the myriads of allegations against it, the Managing Director of EBC, Mr. Vincent Nehikhare said the action of Ebonyi State Government came to them as a shock. "The state wrote a petition to Mr. President asking us to vacate NIGERCEM and that the privatisation should be annulled. Apart from the fact that the State Government is a co-owner (10 per cent) with us, they have been regularly briefed on our problems in taking over the factory as well as the progress of our rehabilitation efforts," he said.

According to him, by the time the state wrote a petition against EBC, there was somebody representing the state in the board of NIGERCEM, one Mathew Ogbugo, an engineer who was always in the board meetings. The EBC boss therefore accused Elechi and the state government of being threats to the company's determination to reactivate the ailing factory.

"Instead of even waiting for Federal Government to look into the petition, the Ebonyi State Government has been doing everything humanly possible to frustrate us out of the place, but unfortunately, it's not going to be as easy as they think. As we talk, agents of the State Government, hired thugs and miscreants are occupying the NIGERCEM factory. These youths armed by agents of the State Government, chased away all the workers, contractors and consultants on site as well as the private security guards on duty and took over the entire premises since July 2008.

"They are regularly fed and maintained by officials of the state government," he said. The managing director added that efforts made by the board of directors of EBC led by its chairman, Dr. I. A. Haastrup to have a meeting with the Ebonyi State Governor before and after the petition have been unsuccessful as the Governor had continually avoided having any audience with the board.

Nehikhare noted that the state government lacked the moral justification to accuse them of insincerity or lack of capacity to reactivate the cement factory, since according to him; the Governor was yet to even meet with them for the purposes of getting direct information from the core investors since he began his onslaught against the company.

"We are still at loss as to what the state government really wants or what they intend to achieve by locking the factory permanently. What kind of wisdom is that for a state government to lose all these things because you want to tell people that you are in power? You are losing taxes; you are losing employment opportunities that should be available to your citizens just because you are fighting Eagle Cement. I think he should be asked this question: what does he want, because there is something under it," Nehikhare emphasised.

The EBC boss also noted that unless certain steps were taken to reactivate the factory, it might remain comatose for a longer time to come. Some of the requests he made include a free hand to rehabilitate, renovate and reactivate NIGERCEM and make it functional; that Ebonyi State Government as a critical stakeholder in the enterprise should create conducive environment for the factory to work and disabuse peoples' minds on the true state of affairs of the company. It should also order immediate vacation of the premises by the hired thugs, and finally that the National Council on Privatisation should in its wisdom direct both the Ebonyi State Government and the Minister for Commerce and Industry to work in harmony with the core investor to achieve early completion of work.

He denied the allegation that his company was cannibalising the factory by taking the assets away, stressing that "a lot of stealing and cannibalisation were going on even after EBC had bought the company and the board met and decided that those things that were attracting thieves should be sold..