Going in and out of the Eleme Petrochemical Company Limited (EPCL), Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for staff and visitors alike, is as tough as the proverbial pilgrim’s progress on the way to heaven. It was not always like this, but for the harrowing experience of militants kidnapping 12 expatriate staff of the company in 2007. This led to the shutting down of the plant and the payment of an undisclosed ransom, Thus, the Indorama management had to review the security arrangement and call in the Joint Task Force (JTF) to support its operation. However, some Nigerian workers in the corporation allege that the company hides under this guise to prosecute an imperialist management policy.

The EPCL, which was commissioned in 1995, was privatised in May 2006 when the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) sold 75 per cent of its shares to Indorama, an Indian company with headquarters in Indonesia, at $225 million. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which managed the company for about 10 years without meeting the production and financial targets, retained 10 per cent shares, while the BPE warehoused 15 per cent for the federal government, the host communities and staff. Recently, the federal government has ordered the BPE to release 7.5 per cent of this to the six host communities and 2.5 per cent to staff. Out of its 75 per cent, Indorama divested 12.5 per cent to the Rivers State government and retained 62.5 per cent.

The complex was designed to produce 240,000 metric tonnes of polyethylene and 95,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene per year. The company’s products are raw materials for the thriving plastic industry where polyethylene and

Indorama-EPCL began operations officially on October 12, 2006, when the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, re-commissioned the plant after a turnaround maintenance that cost the company $135 million. A further injection of $40 million working capital brought its total investment to $400 million. Standard Bank granted Indorama a facility of $125 million under the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, which is being managed by Standard Bank of South Africa through its Nigerian subsidiary, Stanbic-Chartered Bank. Two Nigerian banks — United Bank for Africa and Fidelity Bank — are also involved in the administration of the facility. Furthermore, the International Finance Corporation, the investment arm of the World Bank, announced an investment of $155 million in February 2007, which was said to be the largest of such investment by the bank in sub-Saharan Africa.