Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite on Tuesday, said that the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020 was essentially responsible for the non resuscitation of Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi State.

The minister said that following his participation in a Summit in Russia in 2019, he had announced that within two years, precisely in the first quarter of 2022, the company would come back on line.

However, he said the pandemic struck and stopped the Russian technical experts from coming.

Adegbite, who was responding to series of questions thrown at him by lawmakers while appearing before them for the 2023 budget defense of his ministry with the House of Representatives Committee on Steel Development, also said that about $2 billion was estimated for the fixing of the company.

A member of the Committee, Hon. Victor Mela Danzaria had lashed out at the minister, accusing him of not doing enough to get the steel sector working.

The lawmaker had suggested to the committee to withhold approvals for any capital projects of the ministry and focus on resuscitating the company to put Nigeria back on a right pedestal in the steel sector.

“We have a ministry that the plan is to be a generating ministry that will take over very much other generating ministry in this country. Unfortunately, we are still not there. I am speaking from my heart. It doesn’t matter what’s been happening. We have not taken this ministry where it’s supposed to be. Honourable minister, you are not doing enough.

“Foreigners are taking away billions of naira. You are not capturing that. We know that mining activity whether illegal is going on. Solid mineral is a ministry especially the solid sector of it. When this thing, I believe we will get where we will compete with oil. Unfortunately, as far as Ajaokuta is concerned, I will be tempted to say that any capital project there should not be approved. Only personnel should be given money.

“We have had meetings with the minister. He has accused us sometime of not increasing his monetary allocation in the past. May be, we were not able to do but I still feel there is more to do in the industry than what is happening right now. “There was a time we had a meeting with the Senate on the same issue. The approval was given by Mr. President. We asked the Minister to come and say why there were not releasing money for Ajaokuta. That meeting could not continue. Some of us have travelled wide. We know what the mineral sector is doing around the world. Unfortunately, it’s not happening in our country.

“Distinguished, Honourable colleagues, if it means not approving capital projects for Ajaokuta and other sectors of the ministry to bring the revival of Ajaokuta, lets go ahead and do it. I think we should pay the workers and not approve other areas if there are. We can’t continue like that. Some things have to happen. The President and the Executive understand what Ajaokuta will do to Nigeria. So, we were not happy that we are here talking about the same thing. We shouldn’t be wasting money in those areas that are not working,” Mela lamented.

Responding, Adegbite said: “The IPPIS people have a helicopter view of what is happening. Personnel are moved away. People are retiring. I am sure that is what is reflected in that reduction. That money is never fully expended anyway. We all get our salaries from the IPPIS including myself. So, if there is any shortage anywhere, I am sure IPPIS people know how to augment it.

“Essentially, what you have seen in the budget on Ajaokuta every year is just personnel cost and maintenance. If they have anything capital, I am sure it’s very insignificant which can be taken away. When I came to office in 2019, I thought why anybody should be budgeting so much for Ajaokuta when it’s not producing. But I went to see Ajaokuta first time myself and I quite understood why the personnel were being paid. If anybody has ever visited Ajaokuta, you know how vast Ajaokuta is. It’s a city on its own.

“If we don’t have personnel there who are keeping vigil and maintaining the place; they will do a dummy run for you, for something of that magnitude, it would have gone stiff. You won’t be able to run it again but to do a regular maintenance. Yes, they don’t have the materials to produce the liquid steel. If we have this material, this is how this will run and every part moves. So, that is the essence of paying this much. But we are hoping that we will come to a conclusion by the end of this year and know how to deal with this issue in the budget.

“The concession is on course. In 2019, we came back from Russia and I went to address Nigerians that we will finish Ajaokuta before the end of first quarter of 2022. That in October 2019, Russian/African Summit, we got the cooperation of the Russians. The President agreed to help us put Ajaokuta back on track. I came back home and addressed the press that yes, we have a timeline and Ajaokuta will be fixed in 2 years, that is by 2022, first quarter, Ajaokuta will start running.

“But then, Covid-19 in 2020, all the arrangements that we had couldn’t hold because the Russians were supposed to come in March 2020 to start the technical audit. But they couldn’t come and then, 2021 left as well. In that interregnum, we thought that look; let’s try to do something different. As at today, there is a transaction in place. We have nine people that are interested in running Ajaokuta. We brought different proposals and we said will not do any cheap concession like we have done in the past. We have learnt out lessons. Whosoever that is coming to Ajaokuta must bring some equity into it.

“So, what we hope to do before we leave office is to set Ajaokuta on a solid foundation, on a trajectory that in another year or two, it will start running. But it has to be from a private sector. Government will not have the time and the fund to run that business. So, the transaction adviser is working with the ICRC infrastructure committee. And whenever that process is completed, we will take it to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and then we will decide who gets to run Ajaokuta and which equity. The details will be in the public domain. We hope that the concessioning will be completed. That is why there is no proposal in this 2023 budget when it comes to concessioning,” the minister said.

He added saying that a minimum of $2 million would be required to fix the plants and upgrade its components.

“The estimate to fix Ajaokuta ranges between $1.5 to $2 billion; the whole budget for the whole ministry for the next year is not up to that. How much is a billion dollar in Naira? That’s trillion. What do we get every year? Pittance, N10 billion. So, if you step all the capital projects in the ministry down and put them aside for the next 20 years, it will not fix Ajaokuta. We are going to rely on Afrixim bank. We have gone beyond that now. There are people who are willing to bring their own funds as equity partners to fix Ajaokuta and we should look forward rather than backwards when it comes to Ajaokuta. We have learnt a lot of lessons on Ajaokuta.”

Adegbite also responded to the question regarding the efforts of the ministry to curb illegal mining across the country stating that he was handicapped over it.

He expressed regrets that a proposed mining police mulled in 2017 by his predecessor was yet to take off due to lack of funding. The minister said that it was within the purview of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to give necessary directive.

He however informed the committee that there was a success story on artisanal mining in Nigeria as over 2000 cooperatives have registered with them.

“If you look in our budget, there is no single appropriation for security. That’s why we will go back to the national security adviser. Yes, my predecessor with the president set up what you called the mining police in 2017. Essentially, the minister sits as the chairman of that mining police and it had the Chief of Army staff, the IGP, the commandant General of the Civil Defence, the NSA and the Director of DSS. But that committee has not been funded since. That committee proposed to have personnel on the ground. So, we are not reacting to situation, we prevent situation.

“If we have all those, we can prevent occurrences of illegal mining. But that committee is not funded. It’s just there. If you put soldiers on the ground, they must have ration. They collect a daily ration. There is not funding for that. So, the mining police had not worked else we go back to the NSA who is in charge. And I must note that it on the advice of NSA to Mr. President that there is a ban on illegal mining in Zamfara. So, he aware of illegal mining and the attendant consequences and he is working on a robust proposal. If it’s working, I think, we cannot have some relief. It is outside our purview, he added. (Daily Independent)