“You mean the iron rods used in construction are imported??” What happened to the Ajaokuta steel mill? He asked. “Dead,” I responded.
The propelling factor for industrialization was the discovery of steel in the early 18th century. It spurred manufacturing on a large scale that gave the western world the edge over others; they have gone on to build upon the successes that steel gave them to become developed and a force to reckon with in world affairs.
In a bid to leave the “underdeveloped” zone and move with the “big boys,” at Independence, Nigerian leaders saw the need to produce steel in the country to boost the growth of the nation, but this idea did not come into fruition until 1979 during the administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, with the conception of the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL). By 1983, the Mill had been 95% completed. Now, 31 the company remains uncompleted and neither is it in full operation due to the failure of successive governments to sustain it.
The Russians facilitated the Ajaokuta Steel Project, which has gulped $4.6billion so far. Since President Shagari’s removal from office in 1983, the steel plant has been largely abandoned. Most of the engineers trained in Russia to work in the plant left to join other companies while some others have since retired. Today though, it is like a phoenix, rising from the ashes of the ruins past administrations had let it slide into.
It has not always been deep sleep for the company though as once in a while, there were semblances of somnambulism. There were attempts by the Obasanjo administration to flex a bit of muscle and put the running of the Mill on track back in 2005 when his administration concessioned it to an Indian firm, Global Infrastructure (GHIL), an investment company that was supposed to put the Mill back on track. The attempt failed woefully.  The contract between the FG and Global Infrastructure was revoked by Late Umar Musa Yar’Adua amidst complaints that the latter was stripping the Mill of its assets and sending it to India, its home country. The Ajaokuta Steel branch chairman of the Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSSAN), Comrade Abdulkareem Jimoh, said at a time that “the concessionaires were just toying with the future of Nigeria”, alleging that instead of completing the primary plant, GIHL was trading in iron ore and making billions of
naira without showing commitments to revitalizing the company. That was not the only reason for its failure though, as not so covert attempts were made by the West to truncate realisation of the dream. They are masters at applying subtle but effective pressure on developing countries when they are not going in the path they have set for them and Nigeria becoming self sufficient in steel production was not one of the successes Western Europe and America wanted Nigeria to achieve. In respect of the Obasanjo’s administrations’ attempt to get the mill up and running, a World Bank Country Director once declared that the only thing salvageable in the mill was the power plant, an indication they do not expect/want the Mill to run! Further to this, British Department For International Development (DFID) said the economic value of Ajaokuta Steel Company was marginal and urged Nigeria to completely shut down the steel plant.
This was obviously a misleading report meant to stifle Africa’s industrial development and thus remaining a constant dumping ground for the steel products from the Western world. It is baffling how the Western world keeps putting tongue in cheek when bemoaning the underdeveloped state of the third world when in actuality they do not desire the Third world’s development.
After the concession agreement with GHIL was revoked, Yar’Adua appointed an Interim Management Committee (IMC) to oversee plant but at the end of 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Engr. Isah Joseph Onobere as the sole administrator. He thus became the first pioneer staff of the company to occupy such position. There were rumours the plant would be shut down, but the government refuted it and said the Plant was still very much in line with its vision 20-20-20 plans.
It was then announced that an estimated $1.3billion was required to revive the almost moribund company with $678 million expended on restoring peripheral infrastructure and the remaining $513 million to be slated for core integrated machinery. This is the beginning of the good news and an insight on things to come in regards to the Ajaokuta Steel Company, as it seems the government remained committed to making it work this time around.
There were initial fears that the plant’s facilities had become obsolete, which Eng. Isah refuted. He said this was not so as speculated as most of what were being used in steel refining was still in good condition.  He also said the technical audit report by the Ukrainians recently stated that the situation of the steel plant’s equipment and facility are satisfactory, giving it a clean bill of health. “Mechanically, the Ajaokuta plant’s equipment and facilities are generally in good condition,” backing up his point, he said that “the model operating with the basic oxygen blast furnace installed at Ajaokuta is as viable now as it was almost three decades ago and that the total world crude steel production as at December 2012 was 1.5billion tonnes and 70 per cent was produced through the basic oxygen furnace technology, the blast furnace.  So if as at December 2012 the world crude steel production of about 70 per cent was achieved through this
technology then the technology in Ajaokuta remains the most acceptable and applied technology in iron making process, which has the capability of processing even the least acceptable grades of iron ore and it’s quite flexible in operation.”
He further stated that the steel plant, if completed, has the capacity of producing 1.3 million metric tonnes of liquid steel as well as being a net provider of employment for the populace and about 12,000 staff would be needed in varying capacity.
The company has also entered into a Public- Private- Partnership Agreement (PPPA) with some local and foreign investors to put the four dormant rolling mills into operation. Reprom, a Ukrainian-Nigerian steel company has also reached some understanding of mutual commercial collaboration with the operations of the light session mill. The company will provide 10,000 tonnes of billets per month for conversion at the Light Section Mill of Ajaokuta Company which puts the company at a chance of generating huge revenue as conversion fee. The company is also in negotiations with cement companies, refineries and petrochemicals and the National Mathematical Centre to make use of the medium and structural section, which consists of fabrication shop, foundry, pattern making shop, power equipment repair and rubberizing shops and the metallurgical training Institute.
It is expected that when the negotiations with the companies are concluded, thousands of direct and indirect jobs will be created, while the 110MW captive electricity generating plant would also complement the nation’s electricity supply.
The Chairman/ CEO of Reprom Nigeria limited, Attah Achimugu concurred with the sole administrator, saying that all parameters of an integrated steel plant were complete at Ajaokuta Steel Plant with functional drives and that the Ajaokuta Steel Company is still a viable  business and all it requires is digitisation. He added that this could be completed in less than 10 months. With the arrival of billets, which they have been waiting for and need not less than 5,000 tonnes of it to enable the lighting of the blast furnace, Attah Achimugu said the rolling mills are set to produce large quantities of rods and angle bar for domestic and export use.
At the moment, China is the largest producer of steel, followed by Japan and the United States following it. There are however, indications that India may soon overtake Japan. It therefore, becomes imperative that Nigeria jumps on this wagon of steel production when even the greatest demand comes from Africa and there is no viable competition coming from any other African country. It is unimaginable the amount of foreign exchange that would come from exports alone.
There are great expectations among Nigerians that the Mill would commence production before the end of 2014 as Achimugu and Isah have projected. Analysts insist that what is most needed at this point is consistency and a sustenance of the project. It requires a lot of money, it requires dedicated maintenance and should also not be left to rot like every other thing in the country seems to be doing.