“AjOokuta Company Debit with N2 billion in electricity but does not produce steel”

The president of the Senate Committee for the iron and steel development, Patrick Ndubueze, revealed that the Moribund Ajakuta Steel Company was sometimes in debt with the sum of n2 billion of electrical payments, despite not producing.

Senator Ndubueze declared him at the inaugural edition of the National Steel Summit with the theme “reconstructing and consolidating the steel industry of Nigeria: collaborative action for sustainable growth and global competitiveness” Wednesday in Abuja.

“Once in Ajaokuta, I cried for my beloved country. Ajaokuta can produce parts of the brake, ball bearings, gaskets, engine blocks and other parts.

“It is in some time in debt with the melody of over n2 billion of electricity payments, but not producing,” he said.

According to him, Ajaokuta is a limited liability company, unfortunately the crushing power of Ajaokuta to date is N500,000 for trillion investments in Naira.

He said there should be a corporate government in Ajaokuta and a revision of his status.

He urged the delegates to the summit to ensure that he becomes a decisive moment in the national determination of Nigeria to exploit the full potential of his steel industry.

Ndubueze added that deliberations should position Nigeria as a hub for industrial activities in Africa.

He assured the Senate’s commitment to work with the executive and all the interested parties to provide a vibrant, sustainable and competitive steel industry.

In his observations, the Minister of Siderurgical Development, Shuiabu Audu, said that although Nigeria was well equipped with raw materials in steel, has not yet fully exploited its potential for industrial development.

Audu said that this was due to the absence of operating integrated steel plants as buyers.

He said that the federal government conceptually conceptually has conceptually the idea of establishing an iron and steel industry in Nigeria in 1958.

He explained that initially the interest was in the creation of Rolling.

Audu said that, however, with the growing awareness of the existence of relevant deposits of raw materials such as iron mineral, limestone, coal in the country, the emphasis was subsequently moved to the creation of integrated steel plants.

According to him, the government’s privatization policy in early 2000 led to the sale of the internal rollers in Oshogbo, Katsina and Jos, Delta Steel Company and Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria.

“I must add that no one is in operation as on the date. This privatization policy has changed the role of government from the operator to the administrator of the sector of the sector,” he said.

He said that despite the bad history of the development of steel in Nigeria in the last four decades, the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has shown the desire to face prolonged challenges for the sector.

Audu described the steel sector such as the critical backbone of a chain of industrialized value.

He said this was due as a basic basic material for significant sectors such as construction, cars, electronics, naval construction, military equipment and telecommunications.

He underlined that the production of iron and steel would generate job opportunities and would provide self -sufficient assistance skills, as well as offering a unique opportunity to facilitate a diversified economic basis for any nation.

The minister said that the aim of the summit was to evaluate the current state of the sector, explore investment opportunities, identify political and infrastructure gaps and provide recommendations.

He added that the summit was intended to deepen the collaborative partnerships, the exchange of knowledge between sector actors and inclusive politicians and dialogues to create a common realistic direction for a sustainable Nigerian steel industry.