By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Determined to resuscitate the moribund Ajaokuta Steel project as well as Itakpe Iron Ore in Kogi state, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its weekly meeting on Wednesday presided over by the President Muhammadu Buhari, approved the engagement of Transaction Advisors for consultancy services for the concession of Ajaokuta Steel Company limited and also the National Iron Ore Mining Complex in Itakpe.
The engagement was in favour of messrs CPCS Transform Consortium in the sum of N853,266, 644.4, inclusive of 7.5 percent VAT.
Briefing State House Correspondents after the FEC meeting, the Minister of information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said that the concession move has nothing to do with Russia which is now at war with Ukraine.
“I don’t think the war between Russia and Ukraine has anything to do with this. To the best of my knowledge, I went through this memo and all the consultants are Nigerian companies.”
The Minister believed that with the new development, “we would have made significant step in bringing back to life both the Ajaokuta and the iron ore companies in Itakpe and move forward the industrial revolution of Nigeria.
“When these two complexes begin to function, then, not only are we going to save money in terms of foreign exchange, but we are going to see a lot of industrial development and also technology transfer.”
Mohammed recalled that the contract for the Ajaokuta Steel complex was awarded in 1979 to a Russian company, called TPE.
He said that by the end of 1983, the contract had reached advanced stage, and that, regrettably, since then it has been suffering and by 1994, TPE demobilized from site and 1996, the contract was determined. “Subsequently, various administrations have tried to revive the Ajaokuta steel complex without much success.
“However, you will recall that Mr. President was on a state visit to Russia on the 22nd and 24th October 2019 and, here it was resolved that Ajaokuta steel complex, which the Federal Government has made massive investment must be resuscitated.
“Regrettably, COVID-19 has slowed down the efforts of the ministry of mines to bring this to fruition.”
