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Group urges FG to revive ALSCON plant

By on February 3, 2014

A coalition of groups from Ikot Abasi Federal Constituency in Akwa Ibom State has called on the Federal Government to resuscitate the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria.

The group alleged that since the plant was taken over by Rusal, a Russian firm, in 2007, there had been massive layoff of workers.

The President of the group, Ms Winifred Akpaka, made this known at a press briefing in Abuja.

She said a letter had been written by the group to the Director- General, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mr. Benjamin Dikki, and another to the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, calling their attention to the need to resuscitate the plant.

Akpaka called on the government to implement the Supreme Court judgment reversing the sale of the company to Rusal.

The Supreme Court had in a judgment of July 6, 2012, ruled that the BPE should return ALSCON to BFIG, an American company.

The Russian company had earlier been disqualified by the BPE from the financial bid process after it submitted a conditional bid in contravention of the bidding guidelines.

Despite the disqualification of the firm, the Federal Government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo decided to give ALSCON to Rusal, thereby setting the stage for the preferred bidder, BFIG, to take the BPE to court.

She said, “We call on the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the Federal Government to protect ALSON plant and adhere to the rule of law.”

The group also alleged that going by the 2011 audit report of the ALSCON, there had been a depletion of the company’s asset from $1.3bn in 2005 to $90m.”

This, according to the group, has led to the “stoppage of production and closure of the plant on false presence.”

Efforts to get the reaction of Rusal proved abortive as repeated calls and text messages put across to the company spokesman, Tatyana Smirnova, were not responded to.

 

 

[Punch]