Ajaokuta Steel: ‘$500m payment’ll aid commencement’

The Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSSAN) has said that the payment of $500 million by the Federal Government to Global Steel Holdings Ltd (GSH) will clear some of the hurdles in making the Ajaokuta Steel Company operational.…CONTINUE READING

Bloomberg reported that the Federal Government had paid GSH almost $500 million to settle a contract dispute. According to it, the payment was made before October 4, 2023.
General Secretary, ISSSAN, Comrade John Odigie, in an interview with New Telegraph over the weekend, said the payment was a welcome development.

He urged the Federal Government to clear all other hurdles preventing the Ajaokuta Steel Mill located in Ajaokuta, Kogi State, Nigeria, from functioning. He noted that the company, when functional, would play a prominent role in resuscitating the Nigerian economy.

He added that it would create jobs and generate internal revenue to both the FG and Kogi State govenrment as well as improve the lots of the workers and the host communities.
Odigie said: “The Ajaokuta Steel Company coming on stream will be of great benefit to Nigerians. What has been holding the steel company from being operational is this Global Steel litigation that has been on for years.

“With this move by the government to pay up this money, it is a good step in the right direction too. It will help all the litigations to die down and we will move on from that. If the steel is working today, our teeming youths who are roaming the streets jobless will be gainfully employed. “It will affect the economic improvement of Kogi state and that of Nigeria too.

“In terms of generating internal revenue for the state and for the Federal Government. It will also improve the lives of the citizens of Nigeria at large.

“We commend the FG for its effort to revitalise Ajaokuat. That is what we, the workers’ union, have been clamouring for years for the place to be functional, and for workers who have been there seemingly idle to have a lot of work to do.”

He added: “We encourage FG to address all hindrances that have been holding the steel complex not to work. So we support them in the payment to Global Steel so that all litigations will die down and the place will be given to able hands that will make the place functional.

“Ajaokuta coming on board with place Nigeria in the steel map as the best in Africa. That was the design for Nigeria to be the best in Africa in steel manufacturing. It is just that our past leadership have been negligent in not pushing for steel development in Nigeria. If we have a government that is pushful now, that will make steel development a priority,it will go a long way and it will be one of the best in Africa.

“The importation of steel products will stop. We will give a bit to all the steel industry in Nigeria to thrive and ultimately creating jobs for Nigerians to do.”

Recall that the Minister of Steel Development, Shuaibu Abubakar-Audu, recently reiterated government’s commitment to ensure the production of steel from the multi-billion dollar Ajaokuta Steel Company (ASC) in the next three years.

He also revealed the government’s plan to make the Ajaokuta area a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and diversify the country’s economy. Abubakar-Audu disclosed this at his maiden tour of the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL).

He said the visit was aimed at getting first-hand knowledge of the problems stopping production in the company in a bid to proffer solutions. According to him, President Bola Tinubu has also taken interest in the resuscitation of the steel complex by appointing him as pioneer minister on steel development to show the world the importance of steel development to industrialisation.
ASC, if operational, he added, would create over 500,000 jobs, enough to lift Nigerians out of poverty.

“We thank President Tinubu for having the vision to create a steel development ministry. Over the past 40 years, the largest steel plant in Nigeria and one of the largest in West Africa has not functioned.

“But the President knows that to industrialise Nigeria, we have to get the steel industry working,” he said. Some of the key elements of the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda are job creation, diversification of the economy and FDI, he added.

“If we are able to revitalise Ajaokuta, it will help us achieve this. This agenda will also help us eradicate poverty. To achieve this, we have put together two documents: a three-year plan for the revival of ASC, which will have a small and medium term plan.”

“Part of the things is the roadmap to designate the 24,000 hectares land of Ajaokuta as an industrial park, to create FTZ that will further attract FDI,” he said.