By Wakil El Habib.
The Federal Government of Nigeria on Monday this week entered into a modified agreement with Global Steel Holdings Limited also known as Global Steel, to resuscitate and operate the long abandoned National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) located in Itakpe, Kogi State.
The new agreement came after years of negotiation between the Nigerian government and Global Steel over disputes on Ajaokuta Steel Company and Delta Steel Company Aladja Delta State. President Muhammadu Buhari gave approval for the implementation of the modified agreement following a report submitted to him by the Federal Ministry of Justice on the matter.
Speaking at the occasion, Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo hailed the mediation process that led to the resolution of the problems that made it impossible for the two national assets to be functional for years, describing it as national tragedy.
“It is one of the cases of failures. It is a tragedy of immense proportion that we have both Ajaokuta Steel Complex and NIOMCO and couldn’t get anything out of them for many years,” the Vice President said, adding that getting the steel companies to work again was top priority of President Buhari’s administration, urging Global Steel to keep to the various timelines in the agreement in the spirit of mediation, adding that it was important the concession work so that Ajaokuta can take off too.”
In his earlier remark, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi said that with government would ensure that while NIOMCO is in effective operation, Ajaokuta will also take off within a short time.
Fayemi described the settlement as a landmark development that would help the diversification plans of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Responding, the Chairman of Global Steel, Pramod Mittal said the company waited for eight years to achieve this ‘amicable’ settlement, adding that his vision is to see that Nigeria becomes a steel producing nation.
“My organisation was committed to the objectives of the agreement and guaranteed supply to Ajaokuta plant and Delta Steel Company, after which, it will sell what is left to other interested parties,” he said, regretting that the process was cut short due to the dispute. Mittal however promised that with the new understanding, Nigeria would begin to produce within the next two years.
Global Steel had entered Nigeria in 2004 following a concession granted it by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration to reactivate Ajaokuta Steel Company. The Company which is known all over the world for its capacity to resuscitate dead steel companies had actually reactivated the long abandoned Ajaokuta Steel Company which made the government to sell the Delta Steel Company to it.
Things went bad however in 2007 when a new administration of the late President Umaru Musa YarÁdua came to power. The government had unilaterally terminated the concession on Ajaokuta on grounds that the Company was not operating at the expected speed. But Global Steel said the failure of the Federal Government to fulfill its own obligations on the contract affected its determination and capacity to deliver on its promises, citing the problems associated with the Escravos, the railway and epileptic power supply among other constraints.
Ironically, since Global Steel left Nigeria almost eight years, nothing tangible is happening in Ajaokuta, Delta Steel and NIOMCO Itapke. Rather, all the three organizations have been lying prostrate while government spends billions of Naira to pay the salaries of the workers as well as take care of their administrative matters.
It is on this backdrop that one would commend the efforts of both the Federal Government and Global Steel for seeing reasons to resolve this matter for the sake of Nigeria.
In addition, the reaction of Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello when the management of Global Steel paid him courtesy visit on Tuesday also deserve commendation. The Governor had expressed happiness that Global is back to Nigeria and promised to do everything possible to see that both NIOMCO and Ajaokuta Steel Company come back to meaningful operation.
What is left therefore is for the communities hosting NIOMCO to show understanding and give maximum support for the investor to operate so that the Company can quickly be restored and work to the benefit of both the communities and Nigeria in general.
The workers of NIOMCO should also recall the many years they have remained inactive with dashed expectations. This should spur them to give in their best to Global Steel so that their dream of seeing steel produce in their life time becomes a reality.
El Habib, a former staff of NIOMCO wrote from Jalingo.
