(METRO) Stakeholders cry foul as govt-owned Bayelsa Plastic Industry collapses again
...Govt-appointed managers owing us -suppliers
…Company stripped of multimillion equipment
Isaac Ombe, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Plastic Industry set up in 2007 by the Timipre Sylva-led administration is no more, just as business premises has been stripped of equipment worth over N500 million.
The dream of changing Bayelsa from a civil service state and providing private sector employment for citizens has hit a setback.
It becomes more worrisome that the company that should be producing plastic products sourced from outside the state suffered its fatality under the Douye Diri prosperity administration, despite its vision and mission of creating employment opportunities.
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Eager to ensure that part of the oil revenue accruing to the state was ploughed into economic ventures to generate employment, and to also see a “made in Bayelsa State product”, former governor Chief Timipre Sylva established the plastic producing company which began to manufacture products that attracted buyers from far and near including Port Harcourt, Aba, Onitsha and others.
The inauguration ceremony was elaborate, especially as the only industry producing items of that nature since the birth of the state. The then president Goodluck Jonathan opened the factory with pomp and pageantry in October 2010.
But after governor Sylva’s tenure, activities in the company dwindled, and later the promising business venture shut down for about eight years.
When the current Governor Diri came on board, he thought it was good to revive the company and, with the ‘Prosperity for All’ slogan running through its vein, the state government through the ministry of trade and industry handed over the management of the firm to Ebu Oil and Gas Limited.
Some ex-workers in the company told The Nigerian Xpress that in a short while, the company returned to its old glory, churning out good quality products and recording a high turnover and customer traffic.
But the euphoria was not to last long. The company began to owe suppliers who supplied raw materials to keep the then-fledgling business running. As the debt issue worsened, production nose-dived and the company ground to a halt the second time.
At the time of this report, what remains of the once bubbling plastic company are carcasses which include the empty production hall where the equipment were installed and the weed-infested building and premises.
The company whose epileptic production of plastic products resumed in 2020 packed up in early 2021 with virtually all machines on the premises stripped.
A visit to the company site and the building housing the production equipment revealed that virtually all the machines have been vandalised and most of them taken away.
Apart from stripping off most vital machines that were used to produce plastic pipes and other plastic products, even the two electricity generating sets used to power the plastic company have been carted away.
The mystery behind the disappearance of the multimillion naira equipment is yet to be unravelled.
A supplier, Dr Kurokeme Okoyan, who is being owed over N4 million for the supply of raw materials before the company packed up said all efforts to get in touch with the company’s management had failed.
Dr. Okoyan who is the chief executive officer of Kemelight Nigeria Limited said his frustration in getting back the money owed him informed a court action he instituted against the management of the plastic company.
Out of the close to N5 million naira owed, a Bayelsa State Magistrates Court in the Yenagoa District, settlement/consent judgement awarding him N4,502,000 to be paid by the company’s management led by the Chief Executive Officer of Ebu Oil and Gas Limited, Ebimie Norman Niweigha. Only N300,000 of the awarded sum has been paid.
According to Dr Okoyan, the management of the plastic company was still owing him N4.2 million.
He added that efforts to get the management to pay the remaining part of the debt as directed by the court had been in vain.
While lamenting that suppliers who invested in the plastic company had been frustrated, Okoyan alleged that the management had also failed the government by not meeting the terms of the agreement.
“The person the company was handed over to has failed the government”, he alleged, stressing “the hope was that the prosperity government will bring prosperity to the state but the person government handed over the company has not brought prosperity.
“People worked there, no salary, investors were not paid. People supplied raw materials there to produce the plastic pipes and other items but they were disappointed,” lamented Dr Okoyan who is appealing for the government’s intervention.
“We are using this medium to call on the government to come and assist us. We are small-scale business owners in Bayelsa State and it has crippled our business for some time now.
“It is not a good thing for us in the state. Instead of going outside the state to look for foreign direct investment, the ones that we have here can develop the state.
“But with fears of things like this now, people will not like to invest in Bayelsa State-owned organisations”.
Asked how the company was handed over to Ebu Oil and Gas to manage, Dr Okoyan said: “The belief is that with the relationship he had with top government officials, the place was handed over to him to revive it.
“But today, the reverse is the case, the place under lock and key. We have gone to court, and we were given the order to take possession of the place.
“But then it is not good. We want the government to assist us, the man has run away with our money. Some are owed up to the tune N10 million, N5 million, N4 million, N6 million. Some of us supplied raw materials for them to produce. That place was supposed to create jobs but instead, it has created unemployment and caused pain to us.
“They were producing but suddenly closed. We don’t know what happened. We are calling on the government to intervene”.
Efforts to get in touch with the chief executive of Ebu Oil and Gas, Mr Niweigha did not yield the expected response as his cellphone rang out severally. He, however, replied to a text message two days after. His reply read thus: …Please you can ask the Ministry about the closure of the factory”.
When contacted on the matter, Mr Federal Otokito, the commissioner for trade, industry and commerce, Bayelsa State, declined comments on the issue.
He merely said, “I can’t make comments on the matter,” adding that “it is a matter between the management of the plastic industry and the investors.
The Commissioner for Information, Ayibaina Crowder, when contacted, said efforts were on to gear to revive the plastic company.
