Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Prof. Abdullahi Shehu, on Sunday restated Federal Government’s plans to resuscitate the Ajaokuta Steel Company, one of nation’s largest assets, through new discussions with potential Russian investors.
The envoy was quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) as giving this hint in Moscow during an interview, recalling that the resuscitation of the moribund steel plant is one of the issues discussed by President Muhammadu Buhari, and Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, when they met during the First Africa-Russia Summit in Sochi, Russia, in 2019.
Shehu explained that although a Russian company, under the then Soviet Union, built the steel plant to over 90 percent completion before they left in 1983 and that the Federal Government had put in place some strategies on the revitalization of the multi-billion Naira plant.
He stressed the need to engage the company that had an understanding of the setting up of the steel plant to resuscitate it.
The Ambassador further clarified: “The Nigeria of our dream is our choice to be made by Nigerians themselves so there is nothing sacrosanct that it must be the Russians to construct or finish Ajaokuta.
“But it is important that you bring back the people who built something, who know the history, who have the in and out knowledge about it, who have the template to do something for you that is sustainable but that also has to be decided by Nigeria, not by another person.
“So, during the Africa-Russian Summit that was held in Sochi here in Russia, President Buhari met with President Putin and they discussed the possibility of resuscitating the Ajaokuta steel.
“Now, this responsibility lies with the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development. The company that constructed Ajaokuta was a Soviet company at that time, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, of course the company is still here in Russia, it is called Tyazpromoexport.
“So, discussion started with Tyazpromoexport, and there was the need for a tripartite agreement between Nigeria, Tyazpromoexport and the Afro-Exim Bank. That started but again, we are still at the level of discussion until now.
“Until the Nigerian government says come and do this, the company cannot just come on its own.”
On the latest news about privatisation of the steel plant by the Federal Government, the Envoy said that the government understood the best policies to adopt in managing the country’s assets.
He explained: “I heard recently that there was a discussion by government to privatise the company or to do an assessment or something like that, I do not know.
“But as at when I came last year, there was a proposal for the Russian company to go and audit the company, to do an assessment to determine the status before giving the cost implication for resuscitating the company.
“I think government has its own strategies, maybe they are going to leave it open for other companies to bid, that I do not know,” Shehu added.
