Ajaokuta Steel Company Is Pivotal to Nigeria’s Economic Prosperity – Hussain Obaro
The fact that Ajaokuta Steel Company and Itapke Iron Ore Mining Project revitalization are key and pivotal to NIgeria’s economic prosperity in our desperate need to truly diversify the economy due to the dwindling revenue accruable from crude oil , is no longer a subject of debate. the gigantic steel company which was first commissioned in 1983 by the administration of Alhali Shehu Shagari has since failed to attract the attention or political will of subsequent administration in Nigeria to revamp the multibillion dollar steel plant company to serve the purpose that it was established to serve as the bedrock of the nation’s development.
Although Ajaokuta Steel Company was built based on an age long technology of blast furnace such as basic oxygen furnace (BOF) and it is being developed on the backward integration system, the total world crude steel production as at December 2012 was about 1.5 billion tones and 70 percent of these was produced through the basic oxygen furnace technology, this implies that Ajaokuta Steel Company remains the most acceptable and applied technology in iron making process which has the capacity to process even the least acceptable grades of iron ore and it is quite flexible in operation and conforms with international standard. According to inquiries, the long years of skeletal operation of the steel plant notwithstanding the technical readiness already achieved has not diminished significantly, as preservation of equipments and facilities are constantly undertaken.
Equipments and facilities in the steel plant are rugged, robust and designed with 25 percent safety factor. This makes the Ajaokuta steel plant to be at per with its contemporaries in Russia and Ukraine that have been in operation and remain viable for over 100 years.
Nigeria continues to suffer unquantifiable and monumental losses from the multibillion dollar investment since establishment about 32 years ago, due to asset depreciation, brain drain of it trained man power who were trained in Russia, Bulgaria, and India and theft of some of the light equipments of the steel plant as a result of the sham privatization done in the past. Apart from the fact that the revitalization of Ajaokuta Steel Plant is pivotal to putting Nigeria’s economy in the right shape, the investment is so huge that we cannot afford to allow it to rot. For the present Muhammadu Buhari led APC administration to effectively put this country on a sound economic footing and in realization of the “change” that they promised Nigeria and Nigerians, there is an urgent need for the Ajaokuta Steel Company and Itapke Iron Ore Mining Project, where the raw material (iron ore) for the steel plant is sourced to be put on track and fully operational.
At the last general election, Nigerians voted for change from massive poverty to prosperity, change from unemployment to availability of jobs at both States and National levels, change from corruption and administrative recklessness to transparency and accountability and change from economic retardation to economic progression. Revitalization of Ajaokuta steel plant alone can bring about these “change” to a great extent. Experts have asserted that when back to track and fully operational, Ajaokuta Steel Company and Itapke Iron Ore Mining Project has the capacity to employ over 6 million Nigerians , this is the extent to which this steel company can solve most of Nigeria’s problems and restore the counties glory among committee of nations, the resolve of the Buhari administration to truly diversify the nation’s economy and effectively place it effectively on a path of economic prosperity shall be taken seriously by his effort to make Ajaokuta Steel Plant fully operational. Any effort to diversify Nigerian’s economy without due cognizance to Ajaokuta Steel Plant would only amount to playing politics and lip-service to an already pathetic economic condition of this country.
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