A non-governmental organization, Muhammadu Buhari Legacies Implementation Initiative, has called for an expeditious change of leadership at the Ajaokuta Steel Company.
In a press statement issued in Kano, the Secretary-General of the group, Malam Abubakar Assadeeq, said there was nothing that could turn the fortune of the company around other than the appointment of a professional in the business of steel management to head the company located in Kogi state.
Asaadeeq said the call became necessary at the time the nation’s economy is in dire need of technological innovation to forge ahead.
According to him, the famous Ajaokuta steel rolling mill had over the years suffered serious neglect in the hands of successive administrations at the expense of national interest, pointing out that running the affairs of such a gigantic outfit is not the business of greenhorns.
He said lack of substantive leadership had been the bane of the complex for inexplicable economic reasons; and that, giving the company to a professional with considerable expertise would be the best way to prove the efficacy of the organisation for greater result.
Citing the example of the recent fire disaster that rocked the complex to buttress his point over the issue of gross incompetence in the complex, the secretary general, however, stated that the damage inflicted by the disaster could have been ratified if concerted efforts were made at the top of the complex leadership.
He also reminded the federal government that reviving the economy of the country required a concerted effort by way of giving chance and free hand to a leader that could act and employ his vast network of experience and expertise in making the complex a profit-oriented one.
