By Correspondent in Abuja.
With the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari on the Ajaokuta steel project, the much-awaited visit of the Russian experts is guaranteed,to make the project a reality according to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite.
The Minister gave the assurance to Nigerians in Abuja when he received the planning committee for the first National Conference on Ajaokuta Steel Project, slated for November 25 and 26,2021.
Adegbite said the problem hindering the take-off of the Steel project would soon be a thing of the past, with the fund approved by the President and the gradual recession on the CoVID-19 pandemic.
He also promised that it would not be long to have the experts conduct the physical audit of both Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and Itakpe Iron Ore Company, as complimentary industries.
Our Correspondent gathered that the committee, under the leadership of Engr. Mohammed Lawal, a board member of Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, was at the minister’s office to brief him on the plans and preparedness for the proposed first conference.
The entourage also include the Co-Chairman of the Committee and Director-General, Institute for Governance and Leadership Studies in Africa (IGLSA), Dr. Lanre Adebayo; Bureau Chief of Voice of America (VOA), Hajia Medina Dauda Nadabo.
The Executive Officer, Leadership Newspaper, Mr. Augustine Paul Agbo; as well as the Committee Secretary and Project Director for NGO Network, Mohammed Bougei Attah, were also part of the committee that visited the minister.
The Reporters recalls that the journey to have Ajaokuta steel project, believed to be the largest African upon completion, started at the beginning of 80s.
Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL), popularly known as Ajaokuta Steel Mill, is a steel mill in Nigeria, located in Ajaokuta, Kogi State, Nigeria.
It is built on a 24,000 hectares (59,000 acres) site starting in 1979,the largest steel mill in Nigeria, and the coke oven and byproducts plant are larger than all the refineries in Nigeria combined but remains incomplete 40 years later.
Three-quarters of the complex have been abandoned, and only the light mills have been put into operation for small-scale fabrication and the production of iron rods, according to Wikipedia.
