Ajaokuta Steel Company: DG Akaba Vows to Recover Over $4.5b Investment
The recently appointed Director-General of Ajaokuta Steel Company Sumaila Abdul-Akaba has vowed to recover the over $4.5 billion investment in the company as efforts are being made to ensure that the plant becomes fully operational soon.
He expressed concern that the steel company had been lying fallow for a very long time, adding that the government is determined to resucitate it. The Nation reports.
Abdul-Akaba stated in Abuja that about N10 billion worth of steel and allied products were imported yearly. This development, he said, calls for the revival of the steel plant.
The United Nations (UN) data estimates that every $1 invested in the Ajaokuta Steel Company will yield about $8. Abdul-Akba corroborated this, saying the plant was viable.
Minister for Solid Minerals Development Dr. Kayode Fayemi said at a forum that the legal impediments surrounding the steel company had been resolved.
“I believe the development would speed up the plant’s recovery process,” Abdul-Akba said, adding that the plant will go into the commercial stage, which would involve Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
He added: “It is going to be a public affair. It is going to be as transparent as possible, and we will be looking for investors both locally and internationally. Those that have the right competence and also the financial strength to get the Ajaokuta steel company to where it is supposed to be.
“So, the government has good intention, and what I intend to do as the Chief Executive is to first of all stabilise the environment, bring my experience and ensure that the governance system within the company is right and also to ensure that this commercial stage we are going into, all due process would be observed, the best practices would be strictly adhered to.”
Experts, however, said one major problem confronting the nation’s industrialisation drive, especially in solid minerals and obtaining maximum value from them, was insufficient accreditation laboratories in the country where samples could be analysed. This, they said, had hampered their acceptability outside the country.
They noted that there are only three accredited laboratories in the country, adding that there is need for samples to be analysed for them to be more authentic and that information on them will based on the authentic report.
Abdul-Akaba said Ajaokuta’s management will be looking at all the challenges and how to fashion a notable roadmap, which will yield the maximum benefit accruable from the steel company in addition to the benefits derived from mining.
Ebirareporters
He expressed concern that the steel company had been lying fallow for a very long time, adding that the government is determined to resucitate it. The Nation reports.
Abdul-Akaba stated in Abuja that about N10 billion worth of steel and allied products were imported yearly. This development, he said, calls for the revival of the steel plant.
The United Nations (UN) data estimates that every $1 invested in the Ajaokuta Steel Company will yield about $8. Abdul-Akba corroborated this, saying the plant was viable.
Minister for Solid Minerals Development Dr. Kayode Fayemi said at a forum that the legal impediments surrounding the steel company had been resolved.
“I believe the development would speed up the plant’s recovery process,” Abdul-Akba said, adding that the plant will go into the commercial stage, which would involve Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
He added: “It is going to be a public affair. It is going to be as transparent as possible, and we will be looking for investors both locally and internationally. Those that have the right competence and also the financial strength to get the Ajaokuta steel company to where it is supposed to be.
“So, the government has good intention, and what I intend to do as the Chief Executive is to first of all stabilise the environment, bring my experience and ensure that the governance system within the company is right and also to ensure that this commercial stage we are going into, all due process would be observed, the best practices would be strictly adhered to.”
Experts, however, said one major problem confronting the nation’s industrialisation drive, especially in solid minerals and obtaining maximum value from them, was insufficient accreditation laboratories in the country where samples could be analysed. This, they said, had hampered their acceptability outside the country.
They noted that there are only three accredited laboratories in the country, adding that there is need for samples to be analysed for them to be more authentic and that information on them will based on the authentic report.
Abdul-Akaba said Ajaokuta’s management will be looking at all the challenges and how to fashion a notable roadmap, which will yield the maximum benefit accruable from the steel company in addition to the benefits derived from mining.
Ebirareporters
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