$500m Investment Required To Restart Moribund Aluminium Firm, Says ALSCON MD

The Managing Director of the Aluminum Smelters Company of Nigeria, Dmitriy Zaviyalov, has disclosed that over $500m is required to restart production in the moribund firm.

This was disclosed by him while answering questions from newsmen after a media interaction held on the company’s premises in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State on Thursday.

He said the restart of operations was subject to the government’s guarantee of an uninterrupted and cost-effective gas supply.

While answering the question of how much the company had lost during the period it had remained dormant, Zaviyalov, who spoke through an interpreter, said, “I will not be able to call any figure now because I might be right or wrong, but I estimate that the company since it privatisation had put in about $400m and we need about $500m to restart production in ALSCON.”

He explained that ALSCON was not a party to the Supreme Court judgment, which ruled in favour of BFIG on January 26, 2024, noting that it had secured a judgment from the London Court of Arbitration that ALSCON was properly privatised.

According to the Russian, “You should understand that ALSCON is not a party to these suites in question. The Bureau of Public Enterprise approached the Supreme Court taking BFIG to court.

“The BPE is the representative of the Nigerian government that holds a small stake in ALSCON. Equally, you should understand that in our agreement with the Nigerian government, we agreed that the last court of arbitration would be the London Court of Arbitration.

“After the ruling of the Supreme Court, we approached the London Court of Arbitration and the court ruled in our favour. So, we have the ruling from the London Court that ALSCON was properly privatised.”