Nigeria: Bassey Udo exposes aluminium plant sale scam
Bassey Udo, of Nigeria’s Premium Times, has investigated the sale of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) that lost the country millions.
The investigation, published on 2nd June 2015, revealed that ALSCON was sold for less than 5% of its original value and that the Nigerian government used Russian aluminium company RUSAL as front to “[pay] for the smelter with the nation’s funds”, with the country’s “top brass” appropriating the profits. Further, RUSAL has now closed the plant, putting many in the local community out of work and representing a missed opportunity for economic development.
In a blog subsequently written on trust.org, Bassey explains how the payment for ALSCON, whilst appearing to come from RUSAL, in reality came from money being returned to Nigeria from former President Sani Abacha’s Swiss bank accounts:
“I found evidence that the funds were first transferred from Abacha's Swiss bankers to a company affiliated with RUSAL. This company then transferred the funds to the Nigerian government. So while the payment appeared to come from RUSAL it actually came from Abacha's hidden billions, which should have been returned in full to the Nigerian people.”
INVESTIGATION: Inside the huge scam leading to sale of Nigeria’s aluminium plant, ALSCON, to Russia’s RUSAL
Once booming with life and economic activity, Nigeria’s “Smelter City” suffered an agonizing reversal of fortune following the closure of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria last year.
ALSCON, Nigeria’s only aluminium smelting plant, was shut down after its managers, Russian aluminium giant, United Company RUSAL PLC, sacked more than 98 percent of its workforce, most of them local hires, following crippling protests against poor working conditions, dwindling productivity and spiralling debts.
Before its closure, ALSCON was the second largest employer of the Ikot Abasi community after the local council. Almost 1,800 direct hires were natives. Over 2,500 others worked for support-services companies. It was, perhaps, an answer to the region’s quest for solution to its environmental pollution and youth restiveness. Click here for full article.
