By Chesa Chesa
The Federal Government has engaged a British firm to revive the dilapidated Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited, in Kogi State “for free”.
The firm replaces a consortium of Russian and Ukrainian companies that had earlier been scheduled to rehabilitate the steel complex.
The development follows the outbreak of war between Russian and Ukraine.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, disclosed this while fielding questions from State House reporters at the weekly Media briefings organized by the Presidential Media team.
Adegbite who detailed efforts to revive the steel company under the current administration, stated that President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier released the sum of $2m in 2020, to revive the project, under an arrangement with a consortium comprising Russians and Ukrainians.
According to the Minister, “in October 2019, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and Russia’s Vladmir Putin met at the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi and agreed to revive the uncompleted Ajaokuta steel mill”.
He stated that the contract could not take off due to Covid-19 global pandemic, adding that “the project suffered force majeure due to Covid-19”
Adegbite assured the public that the $2m is safe in the Federal Government’s account, adding that “the money has not even been given to anybody, the Russians can’t get any payment now with the way things happening in the world. All their accounts are blocked.
“So the $2million is still with the Federal Government, it is just that the President has given the money for that purpose. We had started the process of procurement, then with this war, we can no longer go that way.”
The Minister revealed that the “British firm is offering to do it for us free now” and “we have started an irreversible process.
“The problem with Ajaokuta is actually what we call force majeure. Nobody thought of the COVID, because the plan was to deliver Ajaokuta this year 2022.
The Minister regretted however, that the company may not be fully revived under the current administration, as earlier promised.
“And I’ve said it before, when we came back from Russia, yes, I went to the public and said, look we will deliver Ajaokuta before the end of this tenure. And I pray that I’ll have a chance to go back and apologize and explain what happened to the people before I leave office.
“It is due to no fault of ours. Everybody was ready to go, but unfortunately, COVID came in. So, it is a force majeure”
Adegbite speaking on his achievements in office, said his Ministry was working on projects across the six geopolitical zones which will be commissioned by July this year,
Others include the launch of made in Nigeria barite, establishment of mining-related clusters in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria and Jewellery Making Training Center in Abuja where 45 students recruited from all the 36 States and FCT are being trained on jewellery making.
“We are about to conclude the Bitumen Auction, we have completed the automation of the Mining Cadastre System to meet international full standards for online mining title and license applications and approvals”, he stated.
The Ministry also has large scale gold production platform through Segilola Gold project and proposed refining through Dukia Gold and Kian Smith.“The famous Ladi Kwali Pottery Center is being remodelled and resuscitated to train Nigerians in Modern pottery and ceramic works.
He noted that the Nigeria Mining Development Company NMDC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding MOU with the DICON to produce alloys hitherto imported from China.
“Under the MoU, Brass will be processed for Armament and Lead for Ammunition. We have repositioned the SMDF and we are finalizing an amendment to the act to further institutionalize the fund along global best practices”, the minister said.
Adegbite revealed that Nigeria has commenced gold exports through the Segilola resource development, which is expected to export 100, 000 ounces of gold annually.
His words: “Their production capacity is 100,000 ounces per annum. You can plan on that. We know how much we are charging per ounce of gold at that rate. So you know that in a year, this is what we are expecting.
“We charge at 3% but the price will vary because our price is based on the cost that is going at the international market, the New York exchange will quote the price of gold at any particular point in time.
“That’s our reference price. So it’s not fixed as in like, Oh, it must be N10 every year. Gold went as high as $2,500 per ounce at a point. And I think it’s worth about $2,290 now, on the stock exchange. So this is the price as used to calculate that.”
