Address at Ashakacem Day at the 7th OAU/AEC All Africa and Tourism Fair,
Kaduna, April 4, 1997

I wish to welcome you all to this occasion. It is indeed a pleasure to be here today to witness the Ashakacem Special Day taking place at this historic fair. The time of trade fairs is a good one for separating the chaff from the grain.

Ashakacem is today a name to be reckoned within Nigeria’s manufacturing industry. Given the formidable challenges presented by the Nigerian economy and the world as a whole in the past two decades or so, the performance of Ashakacem is certainly commendable and exemplary. The demand for your product within and outside the borders of the country, and the fact that the company has been operating non-stop since 1979 says a lot about the quality of your product and the effectiveness of Ashakacem management. Without doubt, cement today is an essential commodity that no developing nation can do without in its quest for economic and social development; and consequently, I find it appropriate that we thank God that the basic raw materials for the manufacture of cement are available in large quantities in Nigeria. Certainly, the government is not unaware of the conditions of our country’s infrastructure, including those in the health and educational sectors. The dilapidated state of these indispensable institutions has had a disastrous effect on the advancement of our nation.

This is the major reason that informed the setting up of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF). The PTF has been mandated to rehabilitate infrastructure and other utilities that fall into the following categories: · Roads, Road Transportation and Waterways · Education · Food Supply · Water Supply · Health · Security Services, and · Other Projects The PTF is about to begin the rehabilitation of infrastructure in education and health institutions next month. Specifically, the PTF will rehabilitate two primary schools in each local government, one secondary school per senatorial district and one vocational school per senatorial district. This is in addition to all federal institutions, i.e. polytechnics, colleges of education and secondary/unity special schools and an institution of higher learning per state in the country. At the same time PTF is concluding arrangements to carry out comprehensive rehabilitation of health institutions nationwide. Specifically, the Fund will rehabilitate one general hospital per senatorial district, one primary health centre or comprehensive health centre per local government in all the states of the federation. In addition, the Fund will rehabilitate all federal government specialist and teaching hospitals; but for states without one, the PTF will select one of the state hospitals for comprehensive rehabilitation instead.

So far, the PTF has featured prominently in the OAU/AEC Trade and Tourism Fair due to the extent of its involvement in the provision of infrastructure at this fair ground. This, it did with a consistently high level of quality and at astonishing speed. Under normal circumstances, the structures you see here require nothing less than twenty-four months. However, everything was done within only three months. Civil works constitute the largest component of work; and it therefore goes without saying that cement was the most vital ingredient in this PTF intervention. For us to carry out this Herculean assignment of rehabilitating the deteriorating social and infrastructural facilities and completion of abandoned projects, we will certainly require the good services of the cement industry. PTF can hardly achieve its objective without the cooperation of the companies that provide the raw materials.

The two-fold objectives of the PTF is to resuscitate the nation’s collapsing social services and also to lay a solid foundation for revamping the nation’s economy for increased national production of goods and services. Under this arrangement the PTF was set to revamp some of the comatose industries through direct patronage. For example, in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, the PTF patronage in the production of essential drugs raised its capacity utilisation from 28 per cent to 38 per cent. However, the success story of such cooperation is not all round. As the PTF intervention in rehabilitating our road networks is in some cases stalled from lack of bitumen in the roads construction projects.

I sincerely hope that when work starts next month in the rehabilitation of educational and health care institutions, we will enjoy the enthusiastic support of Ashakacem and will not suffer from any lack or short supply of cement. I thank you very much for giving me honour to be with you today.

I wish you many years of efficient and excellent service to a great nation.