(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Usman-300x192.jpg) The National Planning Minister, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman has advised host communities of privatised firms to cooperate with and encourage the new owners of such companies in order to enhance optimum capacity utilisation and improve industrialization in the country.
The Minister who stated this last week end while touring the Dangote Cement Plant in Gboko, Benue State with other members of the policy and monitoring committee of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) stressed that host communities stand a chance of benefiting more if such investments are given all the support to perform at optimal capacity.
Usman said further that, such host communities would gain through more employment opportunities and other social activities implemented by the companies.
He further commended the management of Dangote cement for the tremendous progress recorded with expansion and facilities upgrade which has boosted cement production and supply across the country.
The Minister who is the Chairman of the Committee explained that the visit was a fact-finding one aimed at ascertaining the true state of things at already privatised public enterprises, especially in view of the feeling in many quarters that many of them were not performing well.
Explaining further, the Minister said: "I know that many privatised companies are doing well. I believe this (Dangote Cement) is one of them. If this has remained under Government control, it wouldn't have done better.
"The whole essence of privatisation is to improve efficiency and promote investment. Here (Dangote Cement), capacity has been tripled and is about being quadrupled, since privatisation. We, as members of this committee set up by the Vice President, are using the opportunity to go round the country and see how privatisation is doing."
While speaking further, the Minister said: "I am also using this opportunity call on host communities to be nice to investors because it is better for them to have a company that is producing than the one that is not producing."
Also speaking earlier, Dangote Cement's plant director Mr. Prakash Sharma said that the firm has transformed the former Benue Cement (BCC), increasing capacity to 3.0 metric tonnes per annum from the installed operating capacity of 0.9 MTPA since winning the privatisation bid as core investor and taking over the plant in 2004.
According to him, the new owners have already invested $500 million in plant rehabilitation and technological convergence; while an additional $50 million is being invested in ongoing expansion project with the mind of ramping up capacity to 4.0 MTPA.
He also appealed to the Government to consider deploying cement in road construction to take care of the emerging problem of excess clinker stock and glut in local cement production.
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Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria