The Aluminum Smelting Company, (ALSCON) Ikot Abasi, has announced the appointment of a new Acting Managing Director of the plant. He is Engr. Ime Inyang, formerly the Technical Director of the company.
A statement issued by Anastasia Voronkova yesterday indicates that there were other changes made in the senior management positions of the plant.
Other new appointments are also Dr. Ikpa Etukafia, Acting Director Human Resources, Elder E. A. Amba- Acting Director Finance and Mr. Ata Udom- Acting Director Commercial while Barr. Ibrahim Magaji, Company Secretary/legal Adviser, now heads the Legal Unit.
The statement said the new appointments at ALSCON go along with contract termination of a number of senior managers as well as long-term business trips of current plant managers due to operational needs.
The statement adds that along with, Engr. Ekpenyong Antigha, Director Energy and Utilities, Engr. Charles Anyaefuna- Director Cast House and Engr. Unyime Udofot- Director Reduction Plant as well as Mr. Alex Kuksin- Director Resources Protection will keep their positions.
The statement further said that the new Acting Managing Director, Engr. Inyang graduated from the Russian State University of Oil & Gas, Moscow in 2001 and joined UC RUSAL ALSCON as Mechanical Supervisor (Central Maintenance Department) in April 2007.
He was appointed as Acting Director of the Technical Directorate in September 2007 and became the Director of the Technical Directorate in February 2008.
Engr. Inyang played a key role in preparing the 8-year long mothballed smelter for production restart in 2008 and was responsible for overall maintenance of facilities at the smelter.
As ALSCON’s Acting Managing Director, Engr. Inyang will report to UC RUSAL’s Moscow office, Russia.
The Board of Directors of the Company temporarily suspended smelting operations at the plant in March 2013 because of a number of challenges.
Among them are non-availability of uninterrupted gas supply resulting in high operational losses; lack of physical infrastructure for transmission of gas and power; high operational cost, legal uncertainty surrounding the smelter and bureaucratic bottlenecks as well as continuous decline of aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange.
The management of ALSCON said it is working with the Federal Government of Nigeria on quick resolution of these issues with the view to restart smelting operations.