President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has revealed that a former governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, demolished his proposed cement plant in Itori area of the State twice.
The foremost businessman and philanthropist, however, did not state the reasons for Amosun’s actions.
In a viral video posted on social media on Monday, Dangote made the revelation in the company of the incumbent governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, whom he praised for saving the day for the project.
“I think it is good we have it on record that the (cement) factory we are visiting now in Itori, you know it was because of His Excellency (Dapo Abiodun) that we came back.
“That factory was demolished twice. We started, Governor Amosun demolished it. The second time, we started again, he demolished not only the factory, including the fencing, so we left.
“But, right now, we are coming because of His Excellency my brother, Prince Dapo Abiodun. We are now back,” Dangote stated.
Recall that Amosun, who was a two-time Senator representing Ogun Central senatorial district, also served as governor of Ogun State between 2011 and 2019.
Our correspondent reports that Dangote had in 2023 during the agreement signing with a foreign firm saddled with the task of building the cement plant, China Sinoma International Engineering, said that the new integrated cement plant at completion will strengthen the local production capacity of Dangote Cement, bringing its local capacity to 41.25 million tons per annum and total African capacity to 57.6 million tons per annum.
He said the Itori Cement Plant will also increase Nigeria’s capacity to export cement, thereby enabling more diversification and foreign exchange inflows for the economy.
According to Dangote, the project was further expected to develop the domestic economy through the creation of thousands of indirect and direct jobs and drive economic development in the Itori axis of Ogun State. Ancillary businesses, he stated, will be drawn to the axis, who will be seeking to take advantage of the location of the cement plant to provide goods and services to staff, contractors and other stakeholders.
He added that constructing the new cement plant was in line with Dangote Group’s vision of producing locally goods that were formerly imported despite the abundance of raw materials for local production of such goods.
As at the time of this report, LEADERSHIP was unable to verify Dangote’s claims from former Governor Amosun’s side.
