The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that the promise of the Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar to resolve the problems facing Ajaokuta Steel Company is deceitful and borne out of desperation for power.
Mohammed stated this on Thursday at the 19th Edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration Scorecard Series held in Abuja.
He said Ajaokuta Steel Company was concessioned to Global Steel Industry in 2004 by the regime of then President Olusegun Obasanjo which Atiku who was the Vice President was in charge of privatisation programmes.
“About two weeks ago, during his campaign stop in Kogi State, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP, said if voted into office, his government will resolve the problems facing the Ajaokuta Steel Company.
“Following the failed concession, the concessionaire, Global Steel Industry, took Nigeria to court, asking for $7 billion, and that case lingered for 12 years until the Administration of President Muhammadu
Buhari stepped in and the company finally settled for $496 million.
“Out of the amount, we made a bulk payment of $250 million and agreed to pay the balance in five instalments. To date, we have paid a total of $446 million out of the $496 million.
“We will make the last payment of $50 million next month and Ajaokuta will revert fully to us ending the shameful and failed concession by the Administration in which Alhaji Atiku Abubakar served as the Vice President.
“Now, we are talking to investors who are ready to bring their money into Ajaokuta to make sure it works. The Honourable Minister of Mines and Steel Development, who was here last month, assured that before this Administration leaves office, Ajaokuta will be
concessioned in what he called equitable terms”, he said.
The Minister said the problems facing Ajaokuta was the poorly-thought-out and poorly-executed concession by the regime in which Alhaji Atiku was Vice President, and a regime under which he presided over the failed privatization programme.
He wondered if the former Vice President had any solution to the Ajaokuta challenge, and he didn’t execute it in 2004, why should Nigerians trust him to do so in 2023, almost 20 years later?
“Apparently, the former VP is not even
aware of the current status of Ajaokuta, the settlement reached with the concessionaire and the payments made. Without this information, how does he want to revive the steel company?
“Nigerians should beware of snake oil salesmen, who engage in deceit just to swindle them. The solution to Ajaokuta does not lie in the hands of the same people who scuttled the development of the country’s steel industry through a questionable concession. Nigerians beware! Don’t allow yourselves to be conned twice”, he added.
