Nigeria: Benue State to sell remaining Dangote Cement plc stake

Nigeria’s Benue Investment and Property Co Ltd is expected to sell the remaining Dangote Cement plc shares held in trust for the state’s inhabitants on the Nigerian Stock Exchange for a target value of NGN20bn (US$122m), according to sources quoted in This Day Live.

The previous sale of the shares erased about 30m shares valued at over NGN7bn of the original 90m shares, which Benue State held in Dangote Cement following the 2010 merger of the defunct Benue Cement Co Plc with other Dangote cement subsidiaries.

If carried out, Benue State will have divested its entire stake in the cement company, a move not welcomed by the local community stakeholders. They have questioned the state government’s rationale to deprive its people of what they termed a “valuable investment”, at a time Dangote Cement, which accounts for 20 per cent of market capitalisation, is doing well on the Nigerian bourse.