Senators approve the injection of a fresh sum of $1bn into the Ajaokuta Steel Company

SENATORS have approved an additional sum of $1bn to be injected into the Ajaokuta Steel Company as part of a federal government plan to complete and resuscitate the controversial plant and get it back to full production.

Begun by the Soviet Union in 1979 under a cooperation agreement with the Nigerian government, the complex reached 98% completion by 1994. At the time, the steelworks was called the bedrock of Nigeria’s industrialisation programme but it has been mismanaged and the mill has not produced a single sheet of steel as of December 2017.

Repeated attempts by the government to get it going have failed but in a renewed bid to get the concern going, ministers has asked for a fresh cash injection. Yesterday, senators approved the request, saying the fresh cash will come from the federal government’s share of excess crude revenue.

Senators also said all monies that may from time to time be appropriated and authorised by any tier of government should be part of the funding for the completion of the project. They added that loans or grants made to the country for the purpose of completing the Ajaokuta Steel Company should be accommodated.

Following the adoption of the Ajaokuta Steel Company Completion Fund Bill, 2018 presented by senate leader Senator Ahmed Lawan, the treasury will now hand over the latest tranche of cash. Deputy senate president Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the session, said the bill, if signed into law, would go a long way to facilitate the quick completion of the Ajaokuta Steel complex.

This proposed legislation stated that the monies in the fund shall be applied by the minister subject to appropriation by the National Assembly only for the construction, improvement, extension, enlargement and replacement of infrastructure and works, including the provision, acquisition, improvement and replacement of other capital assets required in respect of or in connection with the completion of the Ajaokuta Steel Company project. It added that the cash shall be used for the acquisition of land and of any right or interest in or over land and in respect of the use of any invention, the carrying on of any survey, research or investigation preparatory to the under taking of any such purpose as is referred to in paragraph a and b or the formation of any plan or scheme for the development, improvement, of Ajaokuta Steel Company project.