January 16, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Cement Company Limited was established in 1964 by a foreign firm called F.L.S Smith of London, following the British colonial administration’s discovery of limestone deposits in the present day Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
The company was jointly owned by the Federal Government, the public, the south-eastern states and Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu. The Federal Government had 10 per cent of the shares, the public controlled 30 per cent, while Sir Ojukwu had 20 per cent and the south-eastern states owned 40 per cent.
Meanwhile, a feasibility study carried out long ago showed that if the company were to be run in full capacity, the limestone deposit would last for 150 years.
The colonialists managed the company till the creation of Anambra and Imo States from the old East Central State. The arrangement was such that Anambra, one of the host states, would appoint the general manager of the company and the other, which is Imo, would produce the chairman of its board.
So it was until Chief R.B.K Okafor became the General Manager and Chief Iheanacho was appointed as Chairman of the company’s board. Both men were alleged to have introduced politics into the company, which drew the attention of the governors of the states.
In an interview with THEWILL, Mr Emmanuel Onyerioha, an Ex-staff of NaijaCem, confirmed that things changed almost immediately the running of the company was handed to the two south-eastern states.
Onyerioha said that everyone began to look out for his interest and became enemies with anyone who wouldn’t protect such interests. Corrupt practices also became the order of the day.
Confirming this, Engr Sunday Irualla, told THEWILL the story of a co-worker who took advantage of every available opportunity to embezzle money. According to him, this colleague was once asked to supply bulldozers valued at N5 million each and he went to buy old ones, renewed them and presented them as the new ones he was asked to buy.
Those bulldozers lasted only a few months before they packed up.
THEWILL spoke with another former staff of the Nigerian Cement Company, also known as NaijaCem, who craved anonymity. According to him, corruption and bad management practices killed the company. Everyone was loyal to someone and not the company. In his words, everyone was loyal to ‘his or her stomach.’
In no distant future, the attention of some politicians was drawn to the company and that was in 1983, under the Shehu Shagari administration. Chief Sam Mbakwe and Chief Jim Nwobodo were in charge as governors of Imo and Anambra States, respectively.
A serious crisis erupted in the company, which led to a decision to lay off all the workers and its temporary closure. As a result, many people suddenly found themselves without jobs. Some suffered depression, some returned to their farms, which they had long abandoned and others went in search of better prospects elsewhere.
When NaijaCem was eventually resuscitated, the responsibility fell upon Governor Nwobodo of Anambra State to appoint a new General Manager for the company, in keeping to a laid down structure.
Although Nwobodo appointed Engr M.A Ogbugo in 1983, that administration lasted only three months, following the military coup d’etat of 1983 led by the current Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari.
After the military struck, everyone was chased out of office. Colonel Robert Akonobi emerged as the Military Administrator of Anambra State and appointed Prof L.O Ocho as the General Manager of Nigerian Cement Company Limited. By that time, the company was no longer producing cement. It had started importing the commodity from abroad.
After Ocho’s tenure ended, Enugu State was created and from it, Ebonyi was born. By the time Navy Commander Walter Feghabo was appointed first military governor of Ebonyi State, NaijaCem was already empty.
The first Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Sam Egwu, appointed Chief C.C Ogbu the General Manager of the company. Ogbu was a sales superintendent in the functional years of the company. All the governor needed was smebody to resuscitate the company and guide it to produce even one bag of cement.
However, Ogbu encountered serious challenges from nearly every angle and he was unable to produce cement. This led to a meeting between the governors and other stakeholders who asked Egwu to either appoint someone who would revive the company or forfeit the right to do so. Icha Ituma, the Secretary to the Governor, however suggested Engr. M.A Ogbugo to him as the most suitable person for the job, having studied Cement Production at Crown Field University, London.
Ogbugo was appointed by the governor as the sole administrator of the company to work without any board in the year 2000. Despite attempts in some quarters to frustrate his efforts, the newly appointed sole administrator went on to revive the company to produce about 15 lorry loads of cement.
A few years later, a Technical Committee on Privatisation was appointed by the south-eastern states and it was headed by Chief Erundu of Imo State. The committee’s task was the privatization of NaijaCem. Soon it called for bids and so many companies responded. Eventually, Eastern Bulk Cement (EBC), the producers of Eagle cement, won the bid and became the major investor in the company.
EBC promised to resuscitate NaijaCem. Meanwhile, during the privatisation process, all the south-eastern states relinquished their shares to EBC. Going forward, the Federal Government relinquished its 10 per cent shares to Ebonyi State, making her the only state that still has shares in NaijaCem. The shares belonging to Sir Louis Ojukwu and the public are still intact.
As was observed, the EBC did nothing after procuring the factory. For reasons best known to it, the EBC made no attempt to resuscitate the company as promised.
Some years later, EBC relinquished its shares to Chief Cletus Ibeto of Ibeto Cement.
NaijaCem was easily one of the biggest and most lucrative companies in the country, producing one of the best, if not the best, quality cement in Africa.
The company had approximately 1,200 staff at its inception across the country with over six lines of production and each line producing about 5,000 bags of cement daily. Some of the top technical workers earned about N1 million in the late 1960s to 1970s.
As expected, the then East Central State Divisional Police had a station in the company’s estate. Also, there were branches of some commercial banks, hospitals, marketplaces and clubs, all of which created even more employment.
In an interview with THEWILL, Mr Harry Ezeulor said the death of NaijaCem brought the host community to a standstill as no meaningful development was recorded ever since. He added that he attended primary and secondary school in the NaijaCem Estate when it was still active. Some of his classmates include a former governor of Anambra State and the governor-elect of Anambra State, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo.
Nicknamed ‘small London’, NaijaCem was a source of funds to its host communities at its peak.
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