At every election in Kogi state the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company is deployed as bait to capture votes from gullible electorate, IDACHABA SUNNY writes
The governorship election in Kogi state is here again and politicians are once again up with their schemes of craftiness when canvassing for votes.
This plays out during every electioneering campaign with promises that they cannot fulfil.
With bag loads of promises they know cannot be kept, they besiege every nook and cranny of the state seeking for votes while at the same time assuring the gullible and unsuspecting voters that once they are elected/voted into office, they can bring down the sky.
Investigation however shows that shortly after election, those politicians forget that they once made such promises. In fact, that is when they remember that ‘government is broke’ or the usual phrase of ‘the immediate past administration emptied the treasury before they left’ becomes popular. Except for a few, exceptional politicians with integrity, it is the same all over the country.
In Kogi, the Confluence State, host of the largest but uncompleted steel company in Africa that had lingered for 40 years, for example, the story is the same. Blueprint Weekend investigation has revealed that since 1999 when the country returned to democratic rule, politicians especially from Abuja seeking electoral victory in the state over their opponents normally hinge on the uncompleted Ajaokuta Steel Company in order to get the attention of electorates, with promises to revamp it only to abandon it after their electoral victory and they have succeeded since 1999. Not only has every promises been broken, the company has remained comatose for years.
Even the current administration has promised that the over 40-year-old complex would be completed soon and would start producing steel so that it can employ teeming Nigerians especially from the state.
Recently at a political campaign rally by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lokoja to canvass votes for the governorship candidate of the party, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu speaking through the vice president, Kashim Shettima promised that the ailing/comatose complex would be rescucitated with assurance that over 500,000 jobs would be provided in the first phase of its completion.
According to the president, “With the hitherto abandoned Ajaokuta Steel Complex now nearing completion, the project would have the capacity to employ 500,000 Nigerians once designated as a free trade zone.
“I am giving you these assurances because the federal government is already collaborating with foreign companies towards the rescucitation of Ajaokuta Steel Company and dredging of the River Niger.
“You should understand that the choice of your son, Shuaibu Abubakar Audu as steel minister underscores the intention of the APC ruling government towards revamping the steel company.
“Of course, all these can only come to fruition if you vote our gubernatorial candidate come November 11, for our party to emerge victorious,” the VP had said.
Catalogue of previous promises
In the same vein in 2015 whle seeking for votes, former President Goodluck Jonathan had promised to properly repackage the Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill if re-elected. Jonathan spoke at a meeting with traditional rulers presided over by then Attah of Igala and chairman of Kogi State Traditional Rulers Council, late Dr Michael Ameh Oboni. Jonathan said that his administration, if re-elected, would tap into the solid minerals in the state and provide jobs for the people.
Although he could not secure a re-election in that particular election, but way back in 2011 when he went round the country to seek for votes, revamping Ajaokuta Steel Company was his major campaign promise in the state, but failed to bring about the much-needed transformation on the complex.
He wasn’t alone, immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari while seeking votes in that same election promised to revamp the steel complex, if elected.
Buhari, while alleging that government had expended close to $5billion on the company, assured that the fortunes of ASCO would change for the better as soon as he assumes office, but up till the time he left in May 2023, the story remained same.
According to Buhari, the complex would boost Nigeria’s foreign direct investment and provide avenue for the creation of the much-needed conducive business environment for all sectors to thrive, noting that the administration would make the Itakpe crop processing project a reality, and assured of jobs creation.
Reactions
Just after the last week APC outing in Lokoja, tongues went wagging about why among all the numerous challenges in the state, politicians think the electorates are still gullible to believe any promise especially about the ailing steel complex.
In a chat with Blueprint Weekend, a Kogi-based legal practitioner Barr Ugbede Johnson lambasted the political class for what he said has been their ritual of insulting the sensibilities of the electorates during every election.
“Politicians have over the years succeeded in telling Kogi electorates that they are gullible. That is why they come here at every election year to insult the sensibilities of the voters. How many times, counting from former President Obasanjo till now have they made promises of revamping the steel complex, but all lies because of politics? It has become a political slogan for every politician seeking votes to promise the revival of Ajaokuta Steel complex, but right now we are sensitising the people not to believe them anymore, because it’s all about winning elective positions for them.”
Also speaking, a staff of the ailing complex, Mr Napoleon Akor who has been with the company since 1990 said, “If all the promises these politicians make about returning the complex to production is something that can be taken to the bank, by now ASCO would have been producing. I recall former President Obasanjo coming here in 1998 to assure us of the company being revived, yet nothing happened until he left. In fact, under him, the company’s woe became even more complex. From Yar Adua through Jonathan till now, it has been failed promises. I don’t know why it is taking them this long to do what should be done for the sake of Nigerians and investment made into it.”
No more rhetorics
But speaking in Ajaokuta shortly after he assumed office in the present dispensation, Shuaibu Audu, the minister of steel development noted with disappointment that though past leaders recognised the importance of steel development but lacked the political will to achieve its objectives. Again, he stated that there is a need to revive the facility in order to enable the country to produce steel, assuring that he would set a roadmap in place for the development of the steel sector, aggressively pursue the completion of the steel complex and enact the required bills to regulate it.
It could be recalled that in September 2022, the Nigerian government was said to have agreed to pay $496 million to settle an Indian firm’s claim over the facility, an issue that has been in dispute. The dispute followed the federal government’s revocation in 2008 of an agreement that handed the control of the company and the National Iron Ore Mining Company to the Indian firm. In cancelling the deal, the Umar Yar Adua administration said the terms of the concession at the time were not favourable to the country, but the Indian firm took the matter to the International Arbitration Panel for adjudication in which they won.
Also last year, the federal government through the immediate past minister of mines and steel development Olamilekan Adegbite announced that 11 companies had indicated interest in taking over the steel company on a concession basis. Three of the 11 bidders, he said, were Russian companies, but before the life of that administration came to an end, there was no further progress report. As a matter of fact, while the delay was initially hinged on the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020, the recent Russian/Ukraine war is said to have dealt another blow on the project.
But according to Audu, “Our past leaders recognised the importance of steel development but lacked the political will to achieve its objectives. The steel development is synonymous with the Ajaokuta Steel plant, whose commencement was over 40 years ago. We aim to start the engine and ensure that we produce at least a small sheet of steel within this administration. It is a known fact that steel is the bedrock of any nation’s development; if gotten right, it may be the beginning of our industrial revolution.”
Audu made it very clear that the creation of the ministry separate from solid mineral underscores President Tinubu’s resolve towards the sector.
As it is, all eyes are on the present administration to walk their talk regarding turning to pain the ailing Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi state into productive gains.
