The Ajaokuta Steel Company is to function as a purely
private entity, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi,
reiterated this position on the steel complex on Monday during a facility tour
of Abuja Steel Mill, a subsidiary of African Steel Company, along Abuja-Kaduna
Road.
Dr. Fayemi who stated that government is putting a lot in
place to ensure that the Ajaokuta Steel Complex gets back to life, said the
company would no longer be run as a public concern.
He said 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.
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 identified the most crucial needs of the country now
as 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 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.”
The Group Executive Director of the company, Mr. Richpal
Singh, accompanied by another director, Dr John Akanya, solicited government
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 is
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.
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