FG Lashes Atiku over Failed Concessioning of Ajaokuta Steel Company

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The federal government has described as deceitful, and a statement borne out of desperation for power, the remark by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, that his administration would resolve the problems facing the Ajaokuta Steel Company if elected into office.

The Minister of Information and Culture,Alhaji Lai Mohammed, descended on the former Vice President yesterday, at the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration’s Scorecard Series in Abuja over the remarks he made about two weeks ago, during his campaign in Kogi State.
The minister noted that Ajaokuta was concessioned to Global Steel Industry in 2004, by the regime of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, when Atiku who was the vice president was in charge of that administration’s privatisation programme.

He noted that concession that turned out to be a mess was terminated by another PDP administration.
“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,” Mohammed said.
He said the federal government had been holding talks with investors willing to invest in Ajaokuta to ensure it comes on stream.

He attributed the problems facing Ajaokuta to the poorly-thought-out and poorly-executed concession by the Obasanjo’s government.
“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 vice president 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?” Mohammed said, warning Nigerians to be, “wary 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.