The federal government says President Muhammadu Buhari’s
administration will no longer complete the Ajaokuta steel plant in 2022, as
earlier promised.
The COVID pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war were blamed
for frustrating the project on several fronts.
Olamilekan Adegbite, minister of mines and steel
development, disclosed this on Thursday while addressing state house
correspondents in Abuja.
He said the federal government had, before the pandemic,
successfully convinced Russia to complete the steel facility but could not
proceed with the negotiations.
The deal with Russia involved a $2 million fee for technical
audit required to ascertain the state of the facility before work would begin.
Adegbite further explained that the government moved to
continue the negotiations with Russia after the lockdown, but progress was
stalled again due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
He, however, said the federal government would initiate
irreversible processes to ensure the resumption and eventual completion of the
steel facility after Buhari’s administration.
“Where we are today,
we may not be able to get Ajaokuta to work but I pray that we can start
something permanent,” he said.
“I’ve said it before. When we came back from Russia, yes, I
went to the public and said, ‘look we will deliver Ajaokuta before the end of
this tenure’. And I pray that I’ll have a chance to go back and apologise and
explain what happened to the people before I leave office.
“It is due to no fault of ours. Everybody was ready to go,
but unfortunately, COVID came in. So, it is a force majeure.”
Fielding questions from journalists about gold mining in
Zamfara state, the minister said the government had halted mining activities in
the area.
On the government’s effort against illegal mining, he said:
“We try to nip them in the bud wherever they rear their heads.”
“With the community reporting to us, we have a quick
intervention force. We can’t be proactive; it is too expensive to maintain. But
we have a quick intervention force,” he added.
“If we hear any mining happening in any nook and cranny, we
move in there and dislodge them. Those that are arrested, we confiscate their
equipment and they are prosecuted.”
Adegbite also said Nigeria has attained self-sufficiency in
barite production and would no longer need to import from October 2022.
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