Govt Knocks BUA Group Over Insecurity Claims In Kogi State

The Kogi Government has said that the claims by BUA Group that the state is not safe for investment is a political statement.

The statement is coming few days after BUA said it is no longer interested in a 50,000-hectare land it acquired from the Kogi government in 2012.

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The cement maker said since the acquisition of the land, Kogi Government has made no visible effort to address the issue of access road.

BUA said, “Currently, the land is only accessible by water and without the required investments and other enabling infrastructure, the venture will not be feasible.

“There has been a massive deterioration of security in, and around, the area for the past few years making it practically impossible to start any project there as an investor.”

But Jerry Omodara, the Security Adviser to Gov. Yahaya Bello, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the number of investors in the state has risen by far compared to past administrations.

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He described BUA’s insecurity claim as unfair.

Omodara said, “It’s very unfortunate and unfair of BUA to make such an excuse simply because we caught them on our property illegally.

“I came to Kogi in 2016, when there were less than 57 expatriates doing business, but today we have more than 294 of them freely working in the state without any molestation.

“They can go and check the records with the Nigerian Immigration Service to know what the difference of foreigners in Kogi between 2016 and now is.

“Anybody saying that Kogi is not safe for investment is only playing politics, which will have no inroad at discrediting our state.

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“Our governor has been able to bring the state into an economic space that is very rewarding for investors and investments.”

The state has also been at loggerheads with Dangote Cement after it sealed the cement maker’s plant at Obajana over ownership tussle.

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