Business
Obajana: We Followed Due Process – Dangote
*Says Kogi has no equity interest in firm
By Edozie Obasi-Eze
The battle for the soul of Obajana Cement Plc between the Kogi State Government and Dangote Industries Limited, which has seen interventions by the legislature, armed vigilante and other stakeholders is still unravelling.
The management of Dangote, on Tuesday night released a statement in which it claimed that it followed due process in its dealing on the cement company, while it has been fulfilling its tax obligations to the KSG.
The corporate communications department of the conglomerate in the statement titled, ‘Obajana Cement Plant: Separating Facts from Fiction.’ That the “Kogi State government has no equity interest in Obajana Cement Plc.”
It also averred it has been paying relevant taxes, levies and charges to the KSG since 2007, when production commenced in the acquired cement plant.
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The statement read, “This is a statement issued for the sole purpose of addressing the concerns and apprehensions of the stakeholders of Dangote Cement Plc (DCP) especially the over twenty-two thousand people it employs directly, and more indirectly, as well as thousands of contractors, wholesalers, users of our products, our financiers and shareholders.
“At a time of significant economic challenges that we face as a nation, we believe all must be done to keep our economy running effectively, our people employed, businesses that depend on us thriving and not discourage those who take the risks of needed, lawful and significant investments in our economy. The shutdown of our plant has materially jeopardised the economic wellbeing of our country without any regard for its significant consequences.
“Whilst reserving our rights to proceed to arbitration in accordance with the extant agreement, we have reported the unlawful invasion by KSG and the consequential adverse effects of same to all the relevant authorities, including the Federal Government of Nigeria who has now intervened in the matter. It is hoped that the dispute resolution process we have initiated will quickly resolve the disputes and allow us to focus on our business without distraction and continue our significant contribution to our national economy. It is in this context that we state in brief as follows.
“The Obajana Cement Plant is one of the most critical components of economic activity in the nation, being one of the highest taxpayers, and vehicle for one of the largest companies invested in by thousands of Nigerian and foreign investors. Its most important assets are (1) its land, the plant and machinery thereon, and (2) the vast limestone deposit covered by mining leases issued under licence by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).”
“The land on which the Obajana Cement Plant is built was acquired solely by Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) in 2003, well after it had acquired the shares in Obajana Cement Company in 2002, following the legally binding agreement it entered into with KSG to invest in Kogi State. DIL was issued three Certificates of Occupancy in its name after payment of necessary fees and compensation to landowners.
“The plant and machinery were conceived, designed, procured, built, and paid for solely by DIL, again, well after it acquired the shares in Obajana Cement Company. The limestone and other minerals used by the Obajana Cement Plant, by the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution belonged to the Federation, with authority only in the FGN and not the State in which the minerals are situated, to grant licences to extract and mine the resources”, the company explained.
“After the agreement with the KSG, DIL applied for and obtained mining leases over the said limestone from FGN, at its cost and has complied with the terms of the leases since inception. The Government of Kogi State had no minerals to give, had no assets to give, and only invited DIL as most responsible governments do to come into the State and invest in a manner that will create employment, develop the State, and earn it taxes.
“In 1992, the Kogi State Government incorporated Obajana Cement PLC (OCP) as a public limited liability company. Sometime in early 2002, about 10 years after the incorporation of the OCP (which still had no assets or operations as of that time), KSG invited Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) to take the opportunity of the significant limestone deposit in the State by establishing a cement plant in the State.
“Following several engagements and assessment of the viability of the proposed opportunity, DIL agreed that it would establish a cement plant in Kogi State and provide the entirety of the substantial capital required for the investment.
“DIL also agreed, following a specific request by KSG, to use the OCP name (albeit only existing on paper as of that time, and without any assets or operations) for the time being, as the vehicle for this investment. On 30 July 2002, KSG and DIL entered into a binding agreement to document their understanding. The agreement was amended in 2003 and remains binding on, and legally enforceable by, the parties to same.
”It was agreed, inter alia, that: DIL would establish a cement plant with a capacity of 3,500,000 metric tonnes per annum; DIL shall hold 100% of the shareholding in OCP, and source for all the funds required to develop the cement plant; KSG shall have the option to acquire 5% equity shareholding in OCP within 5 years; and KSG shall grant tax relief and exemption from levies and other charges by KSG for a period of seven (7) years from the date of commencement of production.
“Consistent with the terms of agreement, DIL sourced for 100% of the funds that was used to develop the plant without any contribution from KSG. In line with its rights, ensuring alignment with the Dangote Brand, as part of internal restructuring and for better market recognition the name of OCP was changed to Dangote Cement Plc in 2010, and a number of other significant cement companies (such as the Benue Cement Company) owned by DIL were merged with OCP to become the enlarged Dangote Cement Plc.
“DIL assiduously and at significant cost met all the terms of the agreement between it and KSG in relation to OCP. It built the cement factory, much bigger and better than envisaged.
“KSG could not meet its financial obligations of contributing to the funding the plant in any form; neither could KSG fund acquisition of 5% equity shares in OCP when it was asked on a number of occasions to exercise the purchase option.
“KSG also did not meet its obligations to grant waiver of taxes, charges and levies that it could charge the operations, affairs and activities of OCP. Rather despite being entitled (under the terms of the agreement with KSG) to tax relief and exemption from charges and levies by KSG for a period of seven (7) years from the date of commencement of production, OCP (and now DCP) has paid all due sub-sovereign taxes, levies and charges to KSG since it commenced production in 2007.
“KSG does not have any form of investment or equity stake in OCP, so no dividend or other economic and/or shareholding rights whatsoever could have accrued to it from the operations of the company.
“After the agreement between DIL and KSG in 2002, DIL in 2003, applied to KSG for the acquisition of land for the plant site, and this application was granted with the issuance of three Certificates of Occupancy to DIL. DIL to the knowledge of KSG, paid substantive compensation to Obajana Farmland Owners located within the two (2) square kilometres plant site.
“Subsequently, in September 2004, DIL, in good faith, applied to the State Governor for the statutory consent for DIL to assign the plant site to OCP being DIL’s investment vehicle. This consent request was granted by the State Governor and the appropriate consent fees were paid by DIL.
“The investment of DIL in Kogi State through OCP was at the instance of the duly constituted government of Kogi State, done in accordance with the law of the State and all enabling laws in that regard, and the transaction documents were effectively, lawfully and duly executed by the Governor and Attorney General of the State (at the time), after internal approvals were obtained within the government.
“Since the inception of Alhaji Yahaya Bello’s administration in 2016, and regardless that government is a continuum, we have had series of enquiries about the ownership structure of the Dangote Cement PLC as it relates to the alleged interest of KSG; and had several engagements with the officers of the State government including Governor Yahaya Bello. At all of these engagements we have provided all the details and information supported by relevant documents, required by the Government and the State House of Assembly to confirm our lawful investment.
“For instance, in 2017, we were invited by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry, and we made our submission to the commission with relevant documents to support our position. We are yet to receive any feedback from the Judicial Commission of Inquiry. While still waiting to hear of the report of the Inquiry, we were invited by the State House of Assembly on the same matter earlier this year, and again, we provided evidence in support of our position that KSG does not have any equity or other interest in OCP or DCP.
“On Wednesday 5 October 2022, hundreds of dangerously armed men, other than law enforcement officers, attacked our cement plant in Obajana, Kogi State, destroyed our property, inflicted grievous injuries on many of our employees, and shutdown operations at the plant. KSG has admitted that the armed invaders acted on its instructions, and in furtherance of the recent enquiry by the Kogi State House of Assembly in connection with the ownership of the Obajana Cement Plant.
“Curiously, on 6 October 2022, a day after the shutdown of our facility in Obajana on the orders of KSG, Governor Bello addressed the public and announced that a Specialised Technical Committee which was set up as part of the recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry had just presented its recommendations, which have been accepted by KSG. This statement makes it abundantly clear that the shutdown of DCP’s plant occurred regardless of the Governor’s own confirmation that implementation of the recommendations of the Specialised Technical Committee was still pending.
“Whilst we do not want to speculate on the motivation for the spurious claims being made by KSG in relation to the ownership of the Company, which have resulted in the unfortunate unlawful forcible closure and damage of our plant, and injury of several people, we condemn in strongest possible terms, the unlawful shutdown of our plant by KSG sponsored armed-thugs, the damage to our property (including the looting of large sum of money kept in the office), and grievous injury inflicted on our employees by them.
“This disruption of operations at the plant has caused loss of revenue not only to our company and its customers but has also adversely impacted revenue due to both the Federal and State governments. It has also occasioned loss of jobs for the teeming youths who are daily paid workers that throng our plant for their daily sustenance.
“We implore all our stakeholders, namely shareholders, customers, suppliers, employees, and the entire community of Obajana and Kogi State at large to remain calm while we follow the legitimate and lawful process to resolve this matter. We shall keep our stakeholders duly updated whilst we remain confident that the statutory and contractual rights of DIL shall be upheld by these legal processes which we have initiated.”
Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund (MDGIF) has said that indigenous companies seeking to partner with it and access its equity must show secured gas supply and a confirmed buyer, because no gas project is bankable without both.
The Fund was established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), and designed as the “master key” for unlocking gas processing, infrastructure and bankability.
Deputy Director at MDGIF in the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Engr Elvis Duruji made this known at the OTL Africa Downstream Energy Week in Lagos. He spoke at a session on: “Scaling Energy Options: Unlocking Gas and Renewables through Processing and Infrastructure.”
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Expatiating further, Duruji said the two conditions decide whether the fund takes an equity stake in a project, since they determine its returns and viability, insisting that the security of the gas feedstock is very important. He further noted that project operators must locate their sites at a gas processing plant or close to a CNG mother station.
The Fund, he added, has used N671 billion to catalyse N1.6 trillion from private Nigerians.
“The Fund has partnered on 31 projects covering 205 infrastructure assets at different stages of execution. Of these, 127 are at different levels of project management, and 10 have been commissioned.
Duruji cited Topline Limited’s mini-LNG plant in Delta State as a success story. “For three years, a Nigerian company, Topline, was looking for a credit facility from InfraCredit, and no one was able to loan them money because they are Nigerian,” he said. “They came to the fund and we partnered with them.”
He said Topline is now the first indigenous mini-LNG operator in Nigeria, with commissioning due before December.
He also cited a programme to convert 20 university campuses to CNG through daughter stations.
“Three CNG stations are operational and 14 more are to be commissioned before December. Duruji added that the fund is working with fuel-station partners, including Ibile Oil and Gas Corporation, which is delivering 15 CNG stations across Lagos.
“These are our success stories,” he said.
He said, for CNG projects, proximity to the gas processing plant “is very important. You must have security of gas supply. We also ensure that you have a gas supply agreement with producers. What is the volume and price that the producer is willing to give to our would-be equity partner? This always affects their credit returns and internal rate of return. This is what will determine the project viability, and this is key,” he said.
Duruji also noted that offtake is equally critical adding that. “We need to know the offtakers and the regasification facility. The same thing for CNG, you need to get a compressor,” he said.
According to him, the MDGIF intervenes in gas projects where commercial lenders will not, because “most Nigerian companies are in trading and operating marginally at the downstream level because the sector is highly capital intensive,” adding that no Nigerian bank would give single-digit loans for exploration and production.
“Nigerian Banks lends at as much as 30 per cent interest, whereas, foreign firms coming into Nigeria to explore, by contrast, have access to cheap loans in single digits from their home country financial institutions,” he said.
The MDGIF, he further explained, intervenes “by pricing the risk, coming up with mitigation and catalytic equity, which we now use to bring that barrier to a level to allow Nigerians who are interested to come into the midstream to partner through the equity finance that we will provide without interest.”
“We bring in the catalytic equity, which is about 49 percent, because we want to allow you to be the operator. We will stay with the private investor and walk them through all that,” he added.
He said MDGIF brings “minority equity, due diligence and risk governance” and uses these as catalytic capital “to make the projects bankable, to make them balanced capital structure that will attract private confidence.”
He identified processing plants, transport, storage and last-mile distribution as the main gaps. Non-associated gas, he said, is “very expertise and capital intensive,” and pipeline networks are needed to move gas from the reserve to the last mile.
“The more gas infrastructure we roll out, the more we are helping the energy system where renewables cannot,” he said.
Duruji identified three mandates of the MDGIF: to increase domestic gas consumption, to aggregate flared gas and bring it into the domestic market, and to mobilise private investors who lack the funds to play in the midstream.
“The MDGIF has three mandates: increase domestic gas consumption, aggregate flared gas and bring it into the domestic market, that is key,” he said. “The other mandate is to mobilise private investors that do not have the funds to be able to play in the midstream, bring their funds.”
He added: “We also have the mandate to reduce gas flare in Nigeria exploration and production sites.”
Easing access to the dedicated $40 million Women in Oil and Gas Fund is the focus of ongoing strategic conversation between the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
Biztellers reports that the two bodies are keen to collaborate to ensure that more women-owned businesses and professionals benefit from industry’s opportunities and consequently play a stronger role across the sector’s value chain.
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Recall that in April 2021, the NCDMB established a $20 million fund dedicated to supporting women-owned and women-led businesses in the oil and gas sector, which the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) complemented by matching the fund with an additional $20 million.
However, despite this significant commitment and favorable loan terms, the uptake of the scheme has remained below expectations to date.
The discussions were advanced last week when the UN Women’s Country Representative to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Ms. Beatrice Eyong, led a delegation to the NCDMB’s Abuja liaison office.
The team was received by the Board’s General Manager of Corporate Communications, Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, on behalf of the Executive Secretary, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe.
The meeting explored proposed capacity-building initiatives for NCDMB personnel, aimed at mainstreaming gender perspectives into the Board’s project planning, budgeting, and execution frameworks.
Other key areas of discussion included vendor development schemes to better position women-led oil and gas businesses for industry opportunities, strategies to raise awareness of available financing options, and potential affirmative procurement measures designed to expand the participation of women-owned companies across the oil and gas value chain.
The UN official commended NCDMB for its ongoing gender inclusion efforts, noting that the Board is already implementing several measures consistent with its mandate.
She proposed conducting a study to identify the reasons women face challenges in accessing the financing facility, including potential barriers related to documentation, business registration, tax compliance, and limited awareness.
She further highlighted key initiatives currently being undertaken by the UN Office, such as programmes on women’s economic empowerment, leadership development, and the elimination of gender-based violence, among others.
Ezeobi welcomed the proposals and affirmed the Board’s readiness to partner with UN Women. He highlighted several innovative initiatives already implemented by the Board to create opportunities for women to participate, grow, and lead in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
These include the establishment of a dedicated funding scheme with NEXIM Bank that enables women-owned or women-led firms to access financing at a highly competitive 5 per cent interest rate, as well as the creation of a Diversity Sectoral Working Group within the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF), designed to mainstream women’s issues into local content policy and decision-making processes.
The Board also supports associations of women who work across the Energy Industry value chain, where they network, build confidence and links to progress their careers or businesses.
Ezeobi noted that NCDMB has also invested significantly in capacity-building programs for women entrepreneurs and business leaders, covering critical areas such as business sustainability, corporate governance, and strategic management.
The Board has further supported women’s participation in technical occupations while encouraging young girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
He acknowledged that women remain underrepresented in the oil and gas industry, citing limited access to technical education, finance, and commercial opportunities, as well as entrenched perceptions of the sector as predominantly male.
Ezeobi reiterated NCDMB’s willingness to collaborate with UN Women to address these challenges and recommended strategies to accelerate the Board’s support for UN Women’s programmes, thereby advancing gender inclusion across the industry.
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has released its Côte d’Ivoire Country Brief, providing an in-depth examination of the West African nation’s macroeconomic outlook, regional and international trade dynamics, financial sector development and debt sustainability profile.
The brief highlights Côte d’Ivoire as one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. Home to 33.5 million people and with a nominal GDP forecast at USD116.9 billion in 2027, the country has sustained average real GDP growth of around 6.5% per year between 2021 and 2024, accelerating to an estimated 6.6% in 2025. Growth is forecast to moderate to 5.8% in 2026 before rebounding to 6.2% in 2027, supported by rising crude production, continued infrastructure investment and resilient domestic demand.
The brief also points to a notably improved near-term macroeconomic environment. Inflation fell sharply to just 0.1% in 2025, supported by easing commodity price pressures and government measures to stabilise fuel and food prices, with the CFA franc’s euro peg providing a durable exchange rate anchor. The fiscal deficit narrowed to 3% of GDP in 2025, meeting the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) ceiling, backed by stronger revenue collection and ongoing reforms to tax administration and VAT digitalisation.
On trade, this edition charts a significant expansion. Total trade surged from USD26 billion in 2018 to USD57 billion in 2025, anchored by Côte d’Ivoire’s status as the world’s largest cocoa producer, commanding around 40% of global supply, alongside growing exports of cashew nuts, rubber, gold and hydrocarbons.
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The February 2026 Calao South gas condensate discovery and rising output from the Baleine field signaled a broadening export base over the medium term. Strategically positioned on the Gulf of Guinea, with the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro acting as principal gateways into Francophone West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire is deeply embedded in regional trade networks, with African markets accounting for around 22% of its goods trade in 2025.
The brief further notes Côte d’Ivoire’s financial sector strength. The country holds the largest banking sector in UEMOA, accounting for more than a third of regional banking assets. Regulatory reforms, including the adoption of Basel II and Basel III standards, have strengthened supervision and resilience, while the launch of the Central Bank of West African States’ (BCEAO) interoperable instant payment platform in September 2025 is broadening access to digital financial services across the economy.
As this edition notes, Côte d’Ivoire “has moved from a period of rapid debt accumulation and elevated debt service pressure towards a more stable debt profile, supported by fiscal consolidation, active debt management and continued multilateral engagement.” This is a trajectory that positions the country to fully capitalise on the ambitious targets of its 2026-2030 National Development Plan.
Afreximbank’s Group Chief Economist & Managing Director Research commented: “Côte d’Ivoire is consolidating its position as a leading West African growth and trade hub. Its expanding energy sector, world-class agricultural base, regional port infrastructure and increasingly sophisticated financial system offer a strong foundation to attract investment, scale value addition and deepen trade links across Africa.”
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