Ebonyi Fortunes: Revisiting the Nigercem, Nkalagu

▪︎Nwoba Chika Nwoba 

In 1954, limestone in voluminous proportion was discovered in a community called Nkalagu, present-day Ebonyi State. The discovery was activated into production with the establishment of the Nigeria Cement Company Limited(Nigercem) in 1957 with the production facility and staff quarters in the community. The component communities upon which the Nigercem sits are the Nkalagu itself, Nkalaha, Umuhuali, and Amaezu in the present-day Ishielu LGA of Ebonyi State. The ownership of the company was enjoyed by the five Eastern states – Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Imo, and Ebonyi under the Eastern regional government. The production complex in Nkalagu was powered by the Oji River power station in Enugu State, while the coal used there was sourced from Enugu – Udi. A now moribund railway line from Portharcourt passed across the Nigercem to the Northern part of Nigeria. Production quantities increased from time to time as the company gained a foothold in the markets of Nigeria and beyond. Ownership was by 11% to Federal Government, 65 to Eastern Government, and the general public, 24% respectively.

In December 2000, production of cement at the Nigercem ceased. The cessation was occasioned by the inability of the Eastern states-owned factory handlers to upgrade the facility and mode of production to modern means coupled with the fracas that ensued between the company and workers and host communities of Nkalagu, Nkalaha, Umuhuali, and Amaezu over arrears of salaries, royalties and leadership crisis within the company. When the crisis became unbearable, production of cement stopped completely.

During President Olusegun Obasanjo’s public assets privatization era in 2002, 60% of the equity was bought by the Eastern Bulkcem Company Limited after defeating Lafarge and Holcem in the bidding by paying over N1billion and getting a technical alliance with a company in Korea, DAEWOO, with Ebonyi State having 10% and the rest to the general public. The Bulkcem Company couldn’t resuscitate the factory up till 2012 when Chief Cletus Ibeto of the Ibeto Cement bought it up from the company to become the core investor managing the company. 

During the administration of Chief Martin Elechi as Governor of Ebonyi State, the State Government resisted the ownership of the 60% equity now by Ibeto, citing that Bulkcem Company acquired the equity fraudulently from the Bureau of Public Enterprises knowing that its Korean technical partner hadn’t the wherewithal to reactivate the company for productions, hence the Bulkcem’s reselling it to Ibeto. The Government went to court and got an injunction that forestalled the entry of the premises of the Nigercem by Chief Cletus Ibeto and his partners. Military officers were immediately deployed to the Nigercem to guard the environment against illegal entry by anybody. 

ALSO READ: List of Ph.D. Holders in Ikwo LGA of Ebonyi State

The court case lingered till after the administration of Chief Elechi in 2015. In 2016 when Engr David Umahi became Governor of Ebonyi State, he withdrew the suit in court in the name of the Ebonyi State Government against Ibeto and restarted treaties that could reactivate the site for even production. In 2017, the Ibeto Group demanded that for the company to start optimally, the Government should construct roads leading to the factory as the company would start with the production of 6,000 metric tonnes of cement daily. The State Government obliged and prevailed on Gov. Ugwuanyi of Enugu to construct the road from Ehamufu in Isi-uzo LGA of Enugu State to ensure even transportation in and out of Nkalagu. The Ebonyi State Government promised Ibeto a Flyover at the Nkalagu-Enugu-Abakaliki highway for easier transportation of goods and services which is 90 percent delivered. 

Consequently, a new limestone site was discovered at Efiom in Ohaukwu LGA of Ebonyi State in addition to the one at Odomoke in Izzi LGA which was billed to be managed by the Ebonyi Cement (Ebocem) Company Limited and other places limestone has been discovered in very large quantities. The State Government has been reaching treaties with the BUA & Lafarge Companies to site cement factories in the areas. It is expected that the incoming administration would oversee the kick-start of cement production at different locations of the state and also fashion ways to begin the exploration of other numerous mineral deposits littered across different locations of the state. 

Note: The picture below is the present look of the Nigercem, Nkalagu as it has been since the year 2000 when it stopped working, though the Ibeto Group has begun fabrication of materials for the kickoff of resuscitation of the factory. 

▪︎Nwoba Chika Nwoba.