There was mild drama on Tuesday when a Senate panel rejected a proposed memorandum for the US Senate. ministry of steel development At the Ajaokuta Steel Company it was described as “watery”.
The inquiry public hearing was held by the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on “alleged incidents of corruption and inefficiency at the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCOL) and the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) and the general state of affairs of the Federal Government-owned companies from 2002 till date”.
The presentation made to the committee, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Chris Osaruwanmwen, by the Minister of Steel Development, Mustapha Audu Abubakar, was described as “watery” and
Later he resigned from the post.
Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Senator Adeniyi Ayodele Adegbonmire (SAN), wondered how Ajaokuta would function when the Ministry of Steel, which directly oversees Ajaokuta, presented only a “2-page watered down memo” to the Senate committee tasked with the enormous task.
He said, “How can Ajaokuta function? You have not presented anything that will make Ajaokuta function. Tell us the problem and what steps you have taken to make Ajaokuta function. What you have presented shows that the ministry is not able to handle the situation.”
The Upper House was also told that privatisation and concessionalisation of the company was not in the best interest of the country.
In the concession agreement between the federal government and GINL, GINL was allowed to import capital into the company but it did not earn a single penny from it.
To make matters worse, Nigeria was said to have paid $496 million to Global Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (GINL), the company that was awarded the concession to Ajaokuta, as part of an out-of-court settlement.
This infuriated the Senate investigation panel when it became clear that GINL had not brought in a single penny in the form of investments.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was represented by the Director of Banking Services, Hamisu Abdullahi, and presented evidence of the payment of $496 million to GINL based on an order received from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
He said the source of the funds was the FGN Independent Revenue Account from which $250 million was paid in the settlement agreement in September 2022 and the remaining amount of $49.32 million was paid in instalments from the FGN Bonus Account.
Abdullahi confirmed that there was no capital importation by GINL.
Ajaokuta Sole Administrator Engineer Sumaila Abdul Akaba, who described ASCOL as a strategic company, said the status of the plant was still intact.
Akaba told the committee that the line plant, which has been completed and would be ready in 6 months, can meet the lime requirement of 36 states.
The Sole Administrator rejected the notion prevalent in many circles that ASICOL had become obsolete, saying all the steel companies in India and China were built using Russian technology like Ajaokuta.
Akaba also justified the N4.2 billion for retention of the steel company’s workers and salaries in the 2024 budget, which was criticised by Senator Natasha Akpothi-Uduaghan (Kogi Central).
He said the workers who maintain the plant are the only reason we still have Ajaokuta today. He added that if you buy a new car and park it outside for a year without maintenance, you won’t be able to drive it when you need it.
Stakeholders at the investigative hearing included the Federal Ministry of Finance, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria, Bureau of Public Enterprises, among others.
(tagstotranslate)Ajaokuta Steel
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