BUA Group, a cement manufacturing firm, has said it is no longer in the 50,000-hectare land Kogi State Assembly alleged it acquired in 2012 (10 years ago).
Gatekeepers News earlier reported that the Kogi State Assembly had summoned BUA Group, alleging it didn’t pay for the land.
In response to this, BUA Group in a letter addressed to the State, said it has yet to take possession and “has never utilised the land.”
It cited the following reasons, “Lack of any infrastructure: Since our invitation by the State in 2012 to invest through that land, there has been no visible effort by the state and successive governments till date to address the issue of access (i.e road infrastructure, roads) that will enable it utilise the land for its intended purpose. Currently, the land is only accessible by water and without the required investments and other
enabling infrastructure, the venture will not be feasible.
Secondly, BUA Group said “Major Security Challenges. 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.”
According to BUA, “Outcome of Feasibility Studies. We conducted further feasibility studies on the land and found out that only about 30% of the land is suitable for our investment with the rest 66% consisting of rocky, hilly, and undulating areas which is not suitable for its intended purpose.”
The organisation wrote further, “Finally due to the reasons enumerated above, and the fallout associated with it, we hereby wish to indicate through this and inform you that we are no longer interested in continuing with our proposed investment.
“We wish to however state unequivocally that had we decided to proceed with the proposed project, BUA would have been happy to pay all necessary compensation to the state and other stakeholders in line with our obligations. This is because as a responsible organization, we believe in the principles of equity, sustainable business practices, and fairness. This has been the hallmark of our operations and engagements with communities and governments, everywhere we operate. Unfortunately, since the land cannot be used for its intended purpose and based on the foregoing, the Government of Kogi State may go ahead to revoke the land if it so wishes.”
