A metallurgist, Dr Toyin Jegede, has urged the federal government to take urgent actions against past wrong business proposals to turn around Ajaokuta Steel Company for Nigeria’s rapid industrialisation.
President Muhammadu Buhari recently withheld assent to the Ajaokuta Steel Company Bill.
Jegede stated in Lagos Monday that the steel company had the potential to create millions of jobs to tackle the socioeconomic crisis in the nation because of the viability of the iron and steel industry globally.
She stated that President Buhari refused assent to the bill because of the current economic crisis but called for political will on the part of government to resolve issues of corruption in previous trade agreements that had kept the firm under developed.
She appealed to the government to create policies that would favour the regeneration of the industry as well as an enabling environment to create confidence for the private sector to inject funds into the project again.
“Apart from injecting funds into the project, we also need experts. It is not as if Nigerian experts cannot do the project, but we need those who are actively involved in the industry, a lot of the staff of the Ajaokuta Steel Company has not worked for a long time. So, they might not be in tune with what is globally trending in that sector.
“So we need people to inject funds and invest into the project; government should review our policies to enable the industry and then Public Private Partnership to get the project going,” she said.
She said previous government efforts to revive the industry had been ridden in various controversies and political interference which the Buhari administration must address.
“Enabling environment for PPP should not be treated like a normal national project, we have to back this Ajaokuta issue with right policies, framework and legalities in place to make it difficult for politicians to manipulate things,” she said.
She added that political interference would be minimal with the right transparent policies on ground, so that Nigeria could take its pride of place in comity of nations, through harnessing opportunities in its huge steel sector.
