Kasim Sumaina in Abuja
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, yesterday disclosed that the concession that was done in 2005 by President Olusegun Obasanjo to Global Steel, which resulted in litigation and a demand of N7bn dollars by the company was a major albatross on Ajaokuta.
Adegbite noted that things went sour and the company took the Nigerian Government to court.
The court case, he added, went on for about 12 years, “but thanks to a patriotic Nigerian lawyer in the UK who handled the case very effectively.”
The minister made the disclosure while presenting the achievements of his ministry at the ninth edition of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Scorecard 2015 to 2023 series organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture.
“Global Steel came with a demand of $7bn but our lawyer was able to puncture holes in their case and at the end, they had to settle for $496m,” the minister said.
According to him, “As we speak, 11 companies are presently involved in the concession bid for Ajaokuta Steel Company but, we are still committed to ensuring that the company was concessioned to a competent bidder with technical and financial capacities to optimise its potential.”
According to him, the Buhari government had been able to resolve all contending legal issues with the steel company and was in the process of concessioning it to a competent bidder, adding that by 1999, mining in Nigeria had declined to almost zero per cent attributing to what happened in 1970.
“There was an indigenisation decree which sent a lot of mining companies out of Nigeria. And by 2015, when President Muhammadu Buhari came into office being the first president, like I have said a few times, put the money where the mouth is. So in 2015, there was a deliberate effort to reposition the sector,” Adegbite stressed.
Further highlighting his achievement, the minister said nobody is importing barite into Nigeria anymore as this is saving the country 300 million dollars annually that was being spent on imports of barite to the country.
He explained that the ministry took it upon itself as a project and in 2021, “we were able to produce made in Nigeria Barite with American Petroleum Institute (API) standard. Within a year of production, Nigeria had attained excess capacity of barite and made plans to export the mineral into places like Ghana and South Africa.
“These are places that have just discovered oil and of course they need barite as well. We will ensure they can get it cheaper to buy from Nigeria than to go to northern part of Africa,’’ he said.
Adegbite however explained that in 2019, he had promised that Ajaokuta Steel would start (operations) before the current administration leaves office. “That is not possible anymore; not because of lack of effort but, especially because of COVID-19.”
