(Ajaokuta)
Contrary to claims in certain quarters in the country that Ajaokuta steel plant in Kogi state,has gone obsolete, the Sole Administrator of the steel plant, Engineer Sumaila Aka’aba said ‘the integrated plant is technically intact .
The Sole Administrator cleared the air on the issue at the steel plant while speaking with Journalists in Ajaokuta.
To butress his point, he said that the technical audit carried out in 2018 indicated that the status of the steel plant stood at 93.5 per cent.
According to the sole administrator, as at today the steel industry is ready for rehabilitation work by the Russians.
“Initially, you hear that Ajaokuta steel plant is 98 per cent completion, but today,it has come down to 95.3 per cent which was clearly stated in a twelve volume documents we used to discuss with Russian government,” Aka’aba said.
He disclosed that it was when President Muhammadu Bihari visited the country in 2019.
“It is also the document we used to engage the Russians and they have made proposals on what to do in Ajaokuta steel company.
“That is why they will be coming to the steel plant to revalidate the technical audit, to be sure that our claims on the status of the plant are correct and in order” he added.
Aka’aba, who also disclosed that the Russians were coming to upgrade and modernize the steel plant, however,lamented that the restrictions on airspace as a result of COVID-19 pandermic had led to lost of four months in their arrival plan.
“Hopefully, as soon as the airspace restriction is over , the Russians will come back and do revalidation of the audit report submitted to them to confirm what we said is Ajaokuta steel plant status after fourth years they left the plant,” he further told the journalists.
Duaglobalnews recalls that in 1973, iron ore of the required quality was discovered in Itakpe, Ajabanoko, and Oshokoshoko.
The Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited was therefore incorporated in 1979 with a view to setting Nigeria on the course of establishing steel plant to be begin steel industry.
The steel mill reached 98 per cent completion in 1994, with 40 of the 43 plants at the facility having been built.
May 2020, the Federal government inaugurated Presidential Project Implementation Team to revive Ajaokuta Steel Company as
part of efforts to diversify the economy away from volatile oil revenue.
The team is headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha.
At the occasion, Mustapha expressed the determination of Buhari-led administration to focus on making the Ajaokuta Steel Company (ASC) West Africa’s largest, fully integrated producer and most importantly, to accelerate industrialization in steel-related industries.
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