The Minister of Steel Development, Mr. Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, said in Abuja Wednesday that the technical audit on the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited will start in February.
The technical audit, he said, would pave the way for the rehabilitation, completion and operation of the steel plant and the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) in Kogi state, Nigeria.
The minister gave the assurance when he appeared before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Steel Development to defend his ministry’s 2024 budget expenditure and the 2025 appropriation.
The federal government signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the original builders of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant, Messrs, Tyazhpromexport (TPE) and members of their consortium, Messrs Novostal M and Proforce Manufacturing Limited, to carry out the technical audit since September last year.
A member of the joint panel, who is the Senator representing the Kogi Central Senatorial District, where the project is situated, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, asked the minister to give a definite date for the commencement of the technical audit.
“Hon Minister, can I ask a question, please? When was the MOU entered into? Which month? Can you tell us the month that the MOU on Ajaokuta was entered?,” she asked .
The minister responded by telling the panel that the document was signed in September last year.
Akpoti-Uduaghan then wondered why the ministry hasn’t done anything four months after the MOU was duly signed.