Ajaokuta Steel Company to Function as Private Entity, Says Fayemi

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has said that the Ajaokuta Steel Company is to function as a private entity.

A statement made available to journalists by Head of Media to the Minister in Abuja, stated that Fayemi reiterated this position during a facility tour of Abuja Steel Mill complex, a subsidiary of African Steel Company, located along Abuja-Kaduna Road.

According to him, “the government is putting a lot in place to ensure that the Ajaokuta Steel Complex gets back to life,” adding that “the company would no longer be run as a public concern.”

The Minister said government is committed to ensuring Ajaokuta works, because it believes that a functional Ajaokuta Steel complex would greatly assist the country’s developmental drives.

He stated that experts with proven track records and required financial capability would be encouraged to key into the scheme through a competitive bidding process that would be transparent.

Furthermore, he said that the most crucial needs of the country now are energy and power and advised that since government is putting the necessary infrastructures in place to address these needs, “steel companies operating in the country should continue to maintain high product quality and put them out at reasonable prices for consumers, especially now that the pressure on the dollar is reducing.”

The Minister however pledged the support of government to the companies that are manufacturing locally and urged them to develop training programmes that would empower and groom young graduates, indigenous engineers and artisans.

“It is important that you come up with training schemes for young graduates and artisans. As you train more of these young indigenous engineers and artisans and absorb them, you will also gradually reduce the number of your expatriates. And this will help us as a country and also help your business”, he added.

The Group Executive Director of the company, Mr. Richpal Singh, accompanied by another director, Dr. John Akanya, solicited government’s assistance to access coal energy which he pointed out would enable them to locally produce the raw materials.

He explained that the high cost of steel products was not due to high dollar demand but the cost of procuring scrap iron, which he said was among the items being taken out of the country. He called on government to look into the regulatory framework that covers this with a view to arresting the trend.