Lafarge Africa Group Plc, producers of Ashaka cement in Gombe state lost N2.5 billion to insurgency between November 2014 and March 2015,
Group MD Guillaume Roux has said. The factory was attacked by Boko Haram militants twice last year.
But Roux said the company has no plan to suspend its operations in Gombe state. He said Ashaka cement has existed in Gombe state for the past 40 years, and was currently producing 1 million metric tons of cement to be upgraded to 4 million.
He said the company recently began the implementation of N100 billion investments for expansion.
Prof. Soji Adelaja chairman of the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE), said his committee and the cement company had agreed to work together in six key areas aimed at improving the well-being of the people in the region.
These include promotion of entrepreneurship to boost employment and attracting expertise in medicine and education to the region. The Lafarge group would also make its facility available for training and skills development.
Other areas of collaboration include provision of modern building technology for the rebuilding of schools and building coal-fired plants to solve problem of electricity generation.
