While Dangote Cement's Obajana plant has caused alarm at the manner and violence of its sudden closure, the long-term closed plant of Ibeto Cement still holds the potential for thousands of jobs for the Igbo people in the southeast. Iyke Uzukwu, a Nnewi-based analyst, wants the federal government to reopen the cement plant to release these jobs.
Mr Uzukwu has called on the leadership of the Ohaneze Ndigbo group, which represents the Igbo people, to add its voice to the issue of the Ibeto Cement factory. He said: “If President Buhari could, without further delay, order the reopening of Ibeto Cement factory to begin operations, the impression that Igbo are being hated and marginalised will be erased."
Mr Uzukwu further urged, “Southeast industrialists should be helped to have access to industrial gas as an alternative to power supply for ease of manufacturing and functionality of the Nnewi industrial cluster, as well as other factories scattered across the southeast zone."
