Peoples Democratic Party chieftain and former Delta state governorship aspirant, Chief Sunny Onuesoke, has appealed to the federal government to sell moribound Ajaokuta Steel Company and allow private sector expertise to restructure the firm for the benefit of Nigerians.
He stressed that no Nigerian will visit Ajaokuta Steel Company to see investments of more than $8bn rotting away in the African sun and not cry.
“ I went there, I cried and asked what exactly is the problem?” he said.
Onuesoke, who spoke to newsmen at Ajaokuta, Kogi state after a private tour of the premises of the steel complex, lamented that Ajaokuta steel company that had reached ninety eight per cent completion as far back as 1994 had not produced a single steel till date, while government is wasting huge sum of over N2bn for payment of staff salaries every year for doing nothing.
He recalled that the federal government budgeted N3.9 billion in 2016 and N4.27 billion in 2017 for the resuscitation of the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company, despite an earlier business case in the last administration showing that the complex could only work if properly privatised. He added that there was also a humongous budget on it in 2018.
“ So why would anyone continue to pump money into an enterprise that is unproductive? Why do government keep promoting, paying staff salaries, pensioning and retiring them? Why do government spend appropriation budget on maintenance of plant that is not working? How do you maintain a non commission plant?” Onuesoke queried.
The PDP chieftain who disclosed that successive administrations have pumped $8bn so far into the complex since 1979, lamented that it was, however, sad that the gigantic steel plant well conceived and executed by past leaders had failed to contribute to the development of Nigeria.
He noted that countries like Japan and South Korea that do not have any of the key mineral inputs needed for steel making as Nigeria have over the years developed the capacity to produce steel, adding that they even ranked among the world top ten countries in steel production.
“I am calling for the outright sale of the company because it has for years remained as a white elephant projects swallowing billions of our scarce resources in project funds without benefit to Nigerians. Besides, the project has become a cesspool of corruption from dispensation to dispensation. It has been concessioned to shadowy foreign and local firms under dubious conditions several times. The politics behind inept Ajaokuta Steel Company is worst than NNPC Refineries,” he explained.
Onuesoke pointed out that the steel project will never see the light of the day under the terrible federal public service, advising that any government who is genuinely interested in the take off of this laudable project must personally supervise its concession under PPP to a big international company with good track record of performance.
He said given the critical role Ajaokuta was supposed to play as the bedrock of industrialisation in Nigeria, government should not sell the critical national asset casually without involving critical stakeholders and the people’s representatives.
According him, “The president must be careful in his choice of those to assist in the implementation of the concession. If 30% of the company was put up for sale on the stock market, government holds 30% and then an investment group buys the remaining 40% that will lead somewhere. The investor group with experience running such a business together with the money raised will be able to get the plant producing.”
