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Ajaokuta Steel plant up for sale again!


Oredola Adeola|

The Federal Government through its ongoing privatisation programme has put Ajaokuta Steel Company up for sale. This was confirmed by Godwin Emefiele, Central Bank of Nigeria, Governor while briefing the Nigerian delegation at the end of the International Monetary Fund/ World Bank Group meetings in Bali, Indonesia on Sunday.



The CBN Governor disclosed that the privatisation programme is coordinated by the National Council on Privatisation, while the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) will be conducting a total review of the process of privatisation and payment for the steel industry to pave way for investors.

He further stated that some of the country’s assets have been up for sale, under the ongoing privatisation programme, with the aim of raising more funds to finance the 2018 deficit-based budget.

 Recall that work commenced on the steel plant in 1979 and over $10 billion is estimated to have been spent on it so far. A recent audit report revealed that a reactivation of the steel company would cost $652 million.

The steel mill has capacity to provide 75,000 direct jobs and one million indirect jobs in mining iron ore, coal , carbonates and refractories, with potential of producing five million metric tonnes of steel per year.

The mill was designed to produce iron and liquid steel from Iron Ore Mines at Itakpe, also in Kogi, about 52 kilometres from Ajaokuta.

It is said to be about 98 per cent near completion. Its counterparts in Jos , Katsina and Osogbo have also failed, and have since been sold.

Successive Nigerian governments have sabotaged the dream through policy somersaults, indifference and unbridled corruption, while Tiajpromexport , the Ukrainian firm that built the complex has expressed readiness to invest $1 billion in it and has made proposals to the Federal Government .

Many industry watchers have recommended that transparent guided sale of the asset by the government, remains that surest way to putting the industry optimally on track , unfortunately this has not been the case because most privatisation programmes of successive administration have been characterised with corruption and rent- seeking.

The country is spending an average of  $4. 5 billion annually on importing steel products, while it is struggling to revive its automobile industry because it lacks  viable  domestic steel industry.


Comments

  1. Theodore Stegna15 October 2018 at 09:14

    Well,,that's another suspense working up. Until that mill becomes functional, all theses stories remain political talks.

    ReplyDelete

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