04 Jul 2011

By Crusoe Osagie

Cement manufacturer, Lafarge Cement WAPCO, has commissioned its N23 billion power plant in Ewekoro Ogun State, in a move to ameliorate the power crisis currently facing the country.

The N23 billion plant, which consists of six units of 15 Megawatts power plant will generate a total of 90 megawatts both to fire Lafarge’s Lakatabu cement plant and to support Nigeria’s quest for power sufficiency.

Managing Director of Lafarge Cement WAPCO, Mr. Samy Abdelkader, who spoke during the commissioning ceremony in Ewekoro chaired by governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, stressed that the 90 megawatt power plant, which will be fired with gas and liquid fuel, will efficiently supply the factory’s power need and boost power supply in the country.

He said, “The N23 billion power plant, which consists of six 15 megawatts units will be the first operating dual firing plant in Nigeria. It has a dual-firing system, which can make it to use both gas and liquid fuel. The importance of the power plant to stable cement production cannot be overestimated in our commitment to ensure availability and affordable cement for Nigerians especially considering the various power related challenges our company has encountered in past”.

According to him, the idea of its new plant was conceived in 2008, while construction started with the foundation laying ceremony February 2009.

The Managing Director added that the Lakatabu factory will be giving birth in the next few weeks as it is finalising the construction of the infrastructure necessary to make cement.

“I want to assure you that Lafarge WAPCO is wholly committed to remaining a true leader by delivering value to our customers and the built sector. What you are experiencing today is a reflection of the fact that when we promise, we deliver. We are completing the plant on schedule as promised to all our stakeholders,” he said.

He expressed confidence that the Ewekoro II will not just be a cement plant, noting that it will be an embodiment of its commitments to innovation and customer care, a developed work force, with adherence to high quality products and standards, commitments to the values of health and safety and corporate governance.

He said upon the commissioning, the company will be contributing around 12,000 tonnes of cement on a daily basis to the Nigeria cement market. “Our new plant will be a further testimony to our company’s leadership in innovation as it has the capacity to produce four different qualities of cement to better serve customers’ special requirements,” he said.

He added that the company has keyed into the Federal Government’s backward integration policy, which aims at self-sufficiency in cement production.

He commended the Federal government’s support to local manufacturers of cement, adding that the company is convinced it will achieve an appreciable stability in the cement sub-sector when there is more volume of cement available to Nigerians. He pointed out that availability will on the long run have a major impact on affordability which is of great concern to the company.

In his remark during the ceremony, the Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, hailed the efforts of the company in the industrialisation of Ogun State and the nation at large.

He pledged his government’s commitment towards improving the operating environment, to ensure that industries and the entire private sector do not have a hard time operating from Ogun State.

He also stated that the Ogun state government was interested in partnering with Lafarge in various areas to improve infrastructure in the state.

According to Amosun, with Abeokuta requiring only about 30 megawatts power supply to power the entire capital, the state will be looking into a strategic partnership with Lafarge to make that possible in the nearest future.

Apart from seeking partnership with Lafarge in respect of independent power projects, Amosun also said the state will be requiring partnership with Lafarge in the construction of high quality international standard trailer parks in the Mowe-Ibafon axis of Ogun state to end the menace caused by parked trailers on express roads.

Amosun said “Government will do everything within its power to make Ogun state secure and peaceful. We are planning a security trust fund to be established in the state and will be requiring free will donations from individuals and private sector bodies in order to assist the police and other security agencies in the state.”

Acknowledging the 4.5 million metric tonnes total cement production capacity of Lafarge WAPCO, the governor charged them to expand their business and boost output to a minimum of 10 million metric tonnes per annum in the near future.

Chairman, Lafarge Cement WAPCO, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, said the N23 billion 90-megawatt plant the company is commissioning is a clear demonstration of Lafarge’s strong commitment to the Federal Government’s backward integration policy, which emphasises on availability and affordability of cement in the country through the encouragement of local cement manufacturers.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/lafarge-unveils-n23bn-power-plant-in-ewekoro/94434/

In addition to being there for the commissioning of the plant, Amosun had better ensure that Ogun State gets its share of the profit made by this plant through taxation.

There is no reason for anyone to be complaining about low IGR/revenue in Ogun State with so much economic activity.

he N23 billion plant, which consists of six units of 15 Megawatts power plant will generate a total of[b] 90 megawatts[/b] both to fire Lafarge’s Lakatabu cement plant and to support Nigeria’s quest for power sufficiency.

Managing Director of Lafarge Cement WAPCO, Mr. Samy Abdelkader, who spoke during the commissioning ceremony in Ewekoro chaired by governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, stressed that the 90 megawatt power plant, which will be fired with gas and liquid fuel, will efficiently supply the factory’s power need and boost power supply in the country.

He said, “The N23 billion power plant, which consists of six 15 megawatts units will be the first operating dual firing plant in Nigeria. It has a dual-firing system, which can make it to use both gas and liquid fuel. The importance of the power plant to stable cement production cannot be overestimated in our commitment to ensure availability and affordable cement for Nigerians especially considering the various power related challenges our company has encountered in past”.

According to him, the idea of its new plant was conceived in 2008, while construction started with the foundation laying ceremony February 2009.

imagine if our dear country had been building 90MW plants every 2 years for the past 12 years we would have had 540MW extra

dustydee:

imagine if our dear country had been building 90MW plants every 2 years for the past 12 years we would have had 540MW extra

540MW extra is nothing.

If my math is correct, using this 12,000 ton figure per day and assuming N1000 per 50 kg bag, this plant will be grossing ~$530 million/year.

I don't know the specifics of Ogun State's tax policy, but even if they are only capturing 2% of the gross in taxes, this is $10.6 million/year from this single plant.

And with the economic activity in the state, Ogun could easily raise 50 times this amount if Amosun works hard. So I really don't want to hear any complaints from the guy about lack of money.

Seun:

540MW extra is absolutely nothing.

Income tax of registered companies is the exclusive preserve of the Federal govt regardless of location, so your little math is nothing but wishful thinking. If the company is not headquartered in Ogun state, the only income taxable wld be the Personal income of 'Resident workers', which means the state where the headquarter is located eg Lagos wld be the one collecting all Personal income taxes for expatriates!

ekt_bear:

If my math is correct, using this 12,000 ton figure per day and assuming N1000 per 50 kg bag, this plant will be grossing ~$530 million/year.

I don't know the specifics of Ogun State's tax policy, but even if they are only capturing 2% of the gross in taxes, this is $10.6 million/year from this single plant.

And with the economic activity in the state, Ogun could easily raise 50 times this amount if Amosun works hard. So I really don't want to hear any complaints from the guy about lack of money.

wesley80:

Income tax of registered companies is the exclusive preserve of the Federal govt regardless of location, so your little math is nothing but wishful thinking. If the company is not headquartered in Ogun state, the only income taxable wld be the Personal income of 'Resident workers', which means the state where the headquarter is located eg Lagos wld be the one collecting all Personal income taxes for expatriates!

Is there no means for Ogun State to tax this plant? Corporate tax, tax on sales, some large annual fee on the land they use, etc? Surely there must be a way.

*** If u r talking "tax", then its foolproof, everything including VAT goes to the Feds, even quarrying rights wld have to be gotten from the ministry of mines and steel so there"s no way the state can charge for her resources used up. I do not think the 13% derivatn goes beyond Oil so i guess Ogun has got to be content with taxing personal income and other petty allied services.

There has to be a way. Personal income tax might not be able to capture enough from that plant. Hrm. . .

Gov. Amaechi says he has 500 mega watts lying idle in Port-harcourt.
The problem isn't the Generation, it's the distribution.

540MW is something, try subtracting it from the National grid and see what will happen. Ogun state will come up with some creative taxes, they all do, even the local governments will tax the hell out of the company.

Praying for Ogun st.

so how come we pay so many taxes to Lagos state government, even our VAT we pay to Lagos state and we are a registered company.

nice one ogun state is moving forward but will it reach ago iwoye here in osu bcus NEPA no dey gree bring lite for student

Later Nigerians will be calling for cheap cement! . Look at the enormous sums spent by Lafarge Wapco to power its own manufacturing. Dangote cement built its own 135 MW powerplant at the newly constructed Ibeshe cement factory for a whopping $280 million dollars and spent billions on 5000 new trucks when a functional public rail system will save it from that expense.

Whether we like it or not, those companies will pass their high costs to us in form of high cement prices.

ekt_bear:

If my math is correct, using this 12,000 ton figure per day and assuming N1000 per 50 kg bag, this plant will be grossing ~$530 million/year.

I don't know the specifics of Ogun State's tax policy, but even if they are only capturing 2% of the gross in taxes, this is $10.6 million/year from this single plant.

And with the economic activity in the state, Ogun could easily raise 50 times this amount if Amosun works hard. So I really don't want to hear any complaints from the guy about lack of money.

@ekt_bear

You're right, that will be their annual revenue i.e. if they operated for 24/7 for 365 days. However, that is often the case, there is downtime in manufacturing for several reasons, and machines can't work @ 100 speed for 365 days annually so u have to account for that time. However the case is, the state's GDP has increased by $500million so does Nigeria GDP as well. Given a decent tax rate say 5% which isn't bad, the state will generate enough revenues from that area. Also, the govt can issue an order to employers / industries for an automatic deduction of payroll taxes of wages fromabove a certain threshhold. That should generate revenues for the state.

wesley80:

Income tax of registered companies is the exclusive preserve of the Federal govt regardless of location, so your little math is nothing but wishful thinking. If the company is not headquartered in Ogun state, the only income taxable wld be the Personal income of 'Resident workers', which means the state where the headquarter is located eg Lagos wld be the one collecting all Personal income taxes for expatriates!

Well companies should pay both federal and state income taxes to their respective jurisdictions. So if they know they are not willing to operate, then let the FG decide to relax its tax rate of find another alternative. The reason for the nonsense " exclusive preserve" is that states seat mute and the FG dictates for them, let them challenge it, by the time it's challenged, the FG will begin to loose some of it's power.

wesley80:

*** If u r talking "tax", then its foolproof, everything including VAT goes to the Feds, even quarrying rights wld have to be gotten from the ministry of mines and steel so there"s no way the state can charge for her resources used up. I do not think the 13% derivatn goes beyond Oil so i guess Ogun has got to be content with taxing personal income and other petty allied services.

States can still generate revenue via property taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes etc. Lagos state does it.

kalokalo:

Later Nigerians will be calling for cheap cement! . Look at the enormous sums spent by Lafarge Wapco to power its own manufacturing. Dangote cement built its own 135 MW powerplant at the newly constructed Ibeshe cement factory for a whopping $280 million dollars and spent billions on 5000 new trucks when a functional public rail system will save it from that expense.

Whether we like it or not, those companies will pass their high costs to us in form of high cement prices.

Public rail? If he wanted to build a freight rail, he should they are all part of investments aka assets.

dustydee:

imagine if our dear country had been building 90MW plants every 2 years for the past 12 years we would have had 540MW extra

probably should be like this:

if each state had been building 90MW plants every 2 years for the past 50 years we would have had 90 * number of state * 50/2 = 24/7 electricity

Ogun state can still collect tax from all the trucks loading by installing a weighing bridge at Ifo for trucks heading towards Lagos and installing another at Papalanto for those heading towards Sagamu bypass towards Ibadan or Edo/Delta, or by building a truck park with facilities, the governor is a chartered accountant,something will be worked out.

Hope the stable power supply will be extended to communities surrounding the Ewekoro plant.

Yinkay:

Ogun state can still collect tax from all the trucks loading by installing a weighing bridge at Ifo for trucks heading towards Lagos and installing another at Papalanto for those heading towards Sagamu bypass towards Ibadan or Edo/Delta, or by building a truck park with facilities, the governor is a chartered accountant,something will be worked out.

longer throat dey kill oo.
no tell state govt to go build weigh bridge on a federal road. that one is haram.

04 Jul 2011

By Crusoe Osagie

Cement manufacturer, Lafarge Cement WAPCO, has commissioned its N23 billion power plant in Ewekoro Ogun State, in a move to ameliorate the power crisis currently facing the country.

The N23 billion plant, which consists of six units of 15 Megawatts power plant will generate a total of 90 megawatts both to fire Lafarge’s Lakatabu cement plant and to support Nigeria’s quest for power sufficiency.

Managing Director of Lafarge Cement WAPCO, Mr. Samy Abdelkader, who spoke during the commissioning ceremony in Ewekoro chaired by governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, stressed that the 90 megawatt power plant, which will be fired with gas and liquid fuel, will efficiently supply the factory’s power need and boost power supply in the country.

He said, “The N23 billion power plant, which consists of six 15 megawatts units will be the first operating dual firing plant in Nigeria. It has a dual-firing system, which can make it to use both gas and liquid fuel. The importance of the power plant to stable cement production cannot be overestimated in our commitment to ensure availability and affordable cement for Nigerians especially considering the various power related challenges our company has encountered in past”.

According to him, the idea of its new plant was conceived in 2008, while construction started with the foundation laying ceremony February 2009.

The Managing Director added that the Lakatabu factory will be giving birth in the next few weeks as it is finalising the construction of the infrastructure necessary to make cement.

“I want to assure you that Lafarge WAPCO is wholly committed to remaining a true leader by delivering value to our customers and the built sector. What you are experiencing today is a reflection of the fact that when we promise, we deliver. We are completing the plant on schedule as promised to all our stakeholders,” he said.

He expressed confidence that the Ewekoro II will not just be a cement plant, noting that it will be an embodiment of its commitments to innovation and customer care, a developed work force, with adherence to high quality products and standards, commitments to the values of health and safety and corporate governance.

He said upon the commissioning, the company will be contributing around 12,000 tonnes of cement on a daily basis to the Nigeria cement market. “Our new plant will be a further testimony to our company’s leadership in innovation as it has the capacity to produce four different qualities of cement to better serve customers’ special requirements,” he said.

He added that the company has keyed into the Federal Government’s backward integration policy, which aims at self-sufficiency in cement production.

He commended the Federal government’s support to local manufacturers of cement, adding that the company is convinced it will achieve an appreciable stability in the cement sub-sector when there is more volume of cement available to Nigerians. He pointed out that availability will on the long run have a major impact on affordability which is of great concern to the company.

In his remark during the ceremony, the Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, hailed the efforts of the company in the industrialisation of Ogun State and the nation at large.

He pledged his government’s commitment towards improving the operating environment, to ensure that industries and the entire private sector do not have a hard time operating from Ogun State.

He also stated that the Ogun state government was interested in partnering with Lafarge in various areas to improve infrastructure in the state.

According to Amosun, with Abeokuta requiring only about 30 megawatts power supply to power the entire capital, the state will be looking into a strategic partnership with Lafarge to make that possible in the nearest future.

Apart from seeking partnership with Lafarge in respect of independent power projects, Amosun also said the state will be requiring partnership with Lafarge in the construction of high quality international standard trailer parks in the Mowe-Ibafon axis of Ogun state to end the menace caused by parked trailers on express roads.

Amosun said “Government will do everything within its power to make Ogun state secure and peaceful. We are planning a security trust fund to be established in the state and will be requiring free will donations from individuals and private sector bodies in order to assist the police and other security agencies in the state.”

Acknowledging the 4.5 million metric tonnes total cement production capacity of Lafarge WAPCO, the governor charged them to expand their business and boost output to a minimum of 10 million metric tonnes per annum in the near future.

Chairman, Lafarge Cement WAPCO, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, said the N23 billion 90-megawatt plant the company is commissioning is a clear demonstration of Lafarge’s strong commitment to the Federal Government’s backward integration policy, which emphasises on availability and affordability of cement in the country through the encouragement of local cement manufacturers.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/lafarge-unveils-n23bn-power-plant-in-ewekoro/94434/

I congratulate Lafarge for this achievement. However i smiled when i heard on TV that the plant will be the first operating dual firing plant in Nigeria. This is not true. I participated in commissioning 4 dual firing plants here in Nigeria some twelve years ago, each of them GE frame six rated 32MW. They are still running as i write. Anyway this is a giant stride. Congratulations.

you may keep on installing power generators in nigeria, there are other factors that affect effective power supply. the issue is, even nigeria does not know how much load they have.

the factors for managing powers most be there. you dont go and taken prof nnaji a mechanical engineer and put in power or electricity. prof nnaji knows less than i do. the bible says we should not boost. prof nnaji is square peg in round hole. this is the mistake nigeria have been making. you put people like prof nnaji, who does not know anything, and you want him to solve what he does not know.

i have to go.

All Nigeria needs is for each state of the Federation to generate 500MW of electricity. Thats 500 x 36 = 18,000MW. This can be accomplished in 3 years

over to you dangote

Kudos to Ogun state. But i can't help but wonder how come many companies are setting factories in ogun. from maggie making factory, to nestle nigeria, to recently May & Baker pharmacuiticals and now this. what is it in ogun that attracts them like that? why not other states? there is too many factories in ogun state already. well maybe am jealous of ogun state, but am happy for them.

deelobe:

over to you dangote

Exactly,mayB he can inport power too

cycober:

Kudos to Ogun state. But i can't help but wonder how come many companies are setting factories in ogun. from maggie making factory, to nestle nigeria, to recently May & Baker pharmacuiticals and now this. what is it in ogun that attracts them like that? why not other states? there is too many factories in ogun state already. well maybe am jealous of ogun state, but am happy for them.

God bless Ogun State. I'm not an indigene of it, but when I return to Nigeria I'd like to settle there.

cycober:

Kudos to Ogun state. But i can't help but wonder how come many companies are setting factories in ogun. from maggie making factory, to nestle nigeria, to recently May & Baker pharmacuiticals and now this. what is it in ogun that attracts them like that? why not other states? there is too many factories in ogun state already. well maybe am jealous of ogun state, but am happy for them.

there is a gas line running from delta state thru edo, ondo? and ogun states to an industrial park in lagos state.
ogun state is obviously taking advantage of its proximity to the lagos industrial park and the captains of industry.

tit:

there is a gas line running from delta state thru edo, ondo? and ogun states to an industrial park in lagos state.
ogun state is obviously taking advantage of its proximity to the lagos industrial park and the captains of industry.

Yep, Shell supplies natural gas in Ota/Agbara area in Ogun State. Lagos is an 20+ million population market right next door, and the rest of the SW zone is probably another 25-30 million +. So probably 50 million people in an relatively small piece of land.

The state is uniquely poised to become the industrial hub of Nigeria.