NLC decries RUSAL’s closure of ALSCON

 The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Akwa Ibom State has decried the closure of Aluminum Smelter Company (ALSCON) and sacking of 300 Nigerian workers in the plant by UC RUSAL, a Russian firm that took over its management in 2007.

RUSAL announced the closure of the plant last month, citing the on-going legal tussle with BFIG, an American company, and inadequate supply of gas to the smelter.

The Supreme Court had in July last year ruled that BFIG was the preferred bidder of the smelter at the 2006 financial bid by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and insisted that it should pay 10 percent of the value of the plant on signing the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) with the government within 15 days.

In a statement made available to BusinessDay in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, the organised labour in the state expressed dismay over the decision, alleging that the Federal Government was playing politics with the smelter plant being the only federal presence in the state.

ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo