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[January 2009]
Abia Ceramic Tile Plant in Nigeria Set for Recommissioning
The Guardian Lagos reports that 13 years after it was shut down, the Modern Ceramics Industries (MOCERAM) plant in Umuahia, in Abia State, Nigeria, has been re-packaged for re-commissioning on 30 January 2009 at a ceremony to be performed by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.
The company, which was established in the 1960s by the government of the defunct Eastern Region, under the premiership of the late Dr M Okpara, was handed over by the Abia State government to UCL Resources and Investments Ltd (UCL), Umuahia on 9 May 2003 and is now called UCL-Modern Ceramics Industries Ltd (UCL-MOCERAM).
Under the present arrangement, UCL owns 80%, Abia State government 5%, with the remaining 15% reserved for undisclosed investors.
Addressing journalists at the factory last week, the Promoter of UCL-MOCERAM Dr Ugorji said that Fucelli-Bruno had been engaged for the rehabilitation, adding that with the modern technology now installed, the factory will on re-commissioning – in its first phase – begin production of floor, wall and roof tiles.
He also said that under phases two, three and four, electrical insulators; pottery; tableware and sanitaryware; ceramic pipes; clay bricks; concrete slabs and blocks; artificial and construction stones; and other ceramic products will be added to the product line.
According to Dr Ugorji, the factory will manufacture 2,500 square metres of tiles per day, which output is also flexible as capacity for additional output for up to 10,000 square metres per day for both glazed and unglazed tiles is inbuilt, adding that N3.2 billion is UCL’s estimated commitment in phase one at no extra cost to the state government, which intervened by providing a 1000 (33/415) KVA electric transformer.
"Although we have gone this far, there is no doubt that we still operate within the environment we have found ourselves. Apart from sourcing for scarce funds, poor public power and energy have been posing serious inhibitions to the economic emancipation of Abia state and Nigeria in general.
"We therefore pray that UCL-MOCERAM will return to its former position as a hub of economic activity for this nation and beyond," he said.
According to the company's Managing Director, Reverend Father M Okoronkwo, who was present during the press interaction, the factory's present 200 workforce will increase from February after the re-commissioning exercise.
The factory, it was gathered, was distressed during the civil war, reactivated in 1972 but collapsed and shut down in 1996 due to the problems of obsolete technology, vandalisation and destruction of the major components of the production lines during the successive military era.
ENDS