Obajana Cement On The Move

[Stockbear]

Obajana Cement is gearing up for its IPO, which we are looking forward to.

Dangote Appoints Makoju, Obajana CEO
Posted Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Special Assistant to the President on Electric Power, Engr. Joseph Makoju has been appointed the Chief Executive Officer of Obajana Cement by Dangote Industries Limited (DIL).

Confirming his appointment, a source in the Presidency said Makoju's appointment is effective April 1, 2007 but will not resume until two or three months from now as result of the pervasive energy crisis in the country.

But Minister of Energy, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, is not favourably disposed towards releasing him immediately and has obtained the backing of President Olusegun Obasanjo to retain his services for a few more months.

Daukoru was said to have made his reservations known to Makoju, however, it is uncertain if the Chairman of DIL, Alhaji Aliko Dangote would also prevail on the President to release Makoju because of the commissioning of the cement plant which is scheduled to hold in two weeks.

Makoju, prior to his appointment as Managing Director of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), was the Chief Executive Officer of the West African Portland Cement Company (WAPCO) which he successfully ran for many years.

His successes at the plant was said to have influenced his appointment by the President to manage the affairs of NEPA in 2001.

While he was MD at NEPA, Makoju oversaw the change management programme in the organisation, preparatory to the restructuring and transformation of NEPA into the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

Last June, PHCN was unbundled as part of the electricity sector reform programme. The unbundling led to the creation of 11 distribution companies, six generating companies and one transmission company.

The Obajana Cement factory in Kogi State has an installed capacity of five million metric tonnes per annum.

In order to power the plant, DIL has successfully constructed a 135MW thermal power station, which gets its gas supply through a 93km gas pipeline from the Ajaokuta Steel Complex.

The power plant will later be expanded to produce 345MW of electricity for onward transmission to the national grid. - ThisDay

[c kenneths]

If this information is true, then I guess we all should start saving some money to buy the IPO, considering Dangote's magic touch we are going to witness another massive over subscription.

[Stockbear]

So, Is there anything stopping Makoju, as the former CEO of WAPCO from giving away their trade secrets, if there is such a thing as that? Are there any laws preventing this from happening in Nigeria?

[Stockbear]

There are rumours to the effect that the IPO will be out soon, sometime in the middle of the year.

Rumour also has it that its opening/commissioning is scheduled as one of OBJ's last rites of office!

Anyone with concrete info should please share!

[Stockbear]

And finally, we have a green light about Obajana cement. It comes out in December and once again Dangote urges all Nigerians to join him in owning the company.

Nigeria Needs Manufacturers, Not Traders, Says Obasanjo
• Commissions $178m Dangote’s Obajana Cement factory
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=78025

[dotunk]

thanks stockbear.

I have been waiting for this for sometime now. I can say thats why i never increased my holding in Ashaka cement (apart from the high price).

But my fear is can the growth of DSR plc be transferable to Obajana? Well since the IPO is in december then i guess we'll have enough time to trash it out.

Please anybody with news on this topic should kaindly share.

As C kenneths puts it "On Obajana we wait".

[Geeman]

Originally Posted by Stockbear

So, Is there anything stopping Makoju, as the former CEO of WAPCO from giving away their trade secrets, if there is such a thing as that? Are there any laws preventing this from happening in Nigeria?

Stockbear, basically the law frowns at what in legal jargon is refered to as 'contract in restraint of trade' i.e. a situation where an employer by contract, tries to stop an employee from working for a competitor after the employee has left his employment.
Whether a clause in restraint of trade is valid or not will depend on whether the clause is reasonable when weighed against the interest of the parties and the public. An employer has a legimate interest in preventing his trade secrets from being disclosed to a competitor by restraning a former employee from working for a competitor but the duration and geographical limit of the restraint must be reasonable.
In the context of Makoju, assuming that his contract of employment with WAPCO contained such a restriction, I do not think that his former employers will have a good case. This is because the man left the services of the company a long time ago to work for another employer and is now moving from that employment to another. In my view, it would be unreasonable to expect the restraint to still be effective after so many years. I hope I do make sense.

[babatunde akinyemi]

[quote=Geeman;1513]Stockbear, basically the law frowns at what in legal jargon is refered to as 'contract in restraint of trade' i.e. a situation where an employer by contract, tries to stop an employee from working for a competitor after the employee has left his employment.

While an employee has the right to work for the competition in approriatr circumstances as Geeman said, he has nevertheless has a duty not to disclose information he obtained from his previous employment to his new employer. This, in legal jargon, is an ex-employee's fiduciary duty to his previous employer. In strict law Makoju cannot legally give away the trade secrets of Wapco to Obajana.

[babatunde akinyemi]

[quote=Geeman;1513]Stockbear, basically the law frowns at what in legal jargon is refered to as 'contract in restraint of trade' i.e. a situation where an employer by contract, tries to stop an employee from working for a competitor after the employee has left his employment.

While an employee has the right to work for the competition in appropriate circumstances as Geeman said, nevertheless, an ex-employee has a duty not to disclose information/trade secrets he obtained from his previous employment to his new employer. This, in legal jargon, is an ex-employee's fiduciary duty to his previous employer. In strict law Makoju cannot legally give away the trade secrets of Wapco to Obajana. Whether it can be proved that he is giving away the secret is another matter.

[solainvest]

BusinessDay... the voice of business - GTB, UBA, Zenith, Stanbic, others fund Dangote’s N151bn debt facility

[Apache]

Originally Posted by solainvest

BusinessDay... the voice of business - GTB, UBA, Zenith, Stanbic, others fund Dangote’s N151bn debt facility

Now, if there's one reason to invest in Dangote Flour, this is is. Who is going to bag all these cement that's going to be produced by Dangote's cement group?
Are you thinking what I am thinking ? (as Brain will ask Pinky in that cartoon (Pinky and the brain) of those days)

[solainvest]

Originally Posted by Apache

Now, if there's one reason to invest in Dangote Flour, this is is. Who is going to bag all these cement that's going to be produced by Dangote's cement group?
Are you thinking what I am thinking ? (as Brain will ask Pinky in that cartoon (Pinky and the brain) of those days)

You are right. My only fear is the pricing of the bags since they are associated companies. Will they pay market price?

[hispy99]

Cement: Dangote Projects 26m Tonnes per Annum

THISDAY ONLINE