Mohammed Shosanya
The Senate Committee on Solid Minerals faulted the lack of a will by the Ministry of Steel (Supervising agency) to make the Ajaokuta Company Limited to work.
At a public hearing on Tuesday in Abuja, the committee lamented that even after about four decades and several attempts at revamping it, the complex has failed to work.
Chairman of the Ad-hoc committee, Senator Adeniyi Ayodele Adegbonmire (SAN) wondered how Ajaokuta will ever work when the Ministry of Steel, which directly supervises Ajaokuta presented only “a 2-page watery memorandum” to the Senate committee saddled with the enormous job.
“How can Ajaokuta work? You have not presented something that will make Ajaokuta work. Tell us the problem and the steps you have taken to make Ajaokuta work. What you presented shows the ministry is not on top of the situation.
The upper chamber was also told that the privatisation and concession of the company was not in the best interest of the country.
The concession agreement between the Federal Government and GINL provided for GINL to import capital into the company but didn’t bring a dime.
Nigeria paid a whopping sum of $496 million to Global Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (GINL), the company Ajaokuta was concessioned to as out of court settlement.
This infuriated the Senate investigative panel when it was clear that GINL did not bring in a dime as investment.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) represented by Hamisu Abdullahi, Director Banking Services presented evidence of payment of $496 million to GINL with a mandate from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
He said the source of the money was FGN independent revenue account from where$250 million in settlement agreement was paid in September 2022 and the balance paid from FGN Bonus Account in installments $49.32 million.
Mr. Abdullahi confirmed that there was no capital importation by GINL.
The Sole Administrator of Ajaokuta, Engr. Sumaila Abdul Akaba who described ASCOL as a strategic company said the state of the plant is still intact.
Engr. Akaba told the committee that the line plant, which has been completed and will be ready in 6 months, can meet the lime needs of the 36 states.
The Sole Administrator faulted the notion in many quarters that ASCOL is obsolete by saying that all the steel companies in India and China are built by this Russian technology like Ajaokuta.
Engr. Akaba also justified the retention of staff of the steel company and the N4.2 billion in the 2024 budget for salaries which Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Kogi Central) criticized.
He said those staff who are maintaining the plant are the only reason “we still have what we call Ajaokuta today”.