Ajaokuta Steel Won’t Take Off Anytime Soon – Federal Govt  

The federal government has said Ajaokuta Steel Company won’t take off anytime soon as earlier planned.

Speaking at the 9th edition of the ”PMB Administration. Scorecard Series (2015-2023) Abuja, yesterday, the minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, said the plan by the federal government to make Ajaokuta Steel operational had been shattered by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.

He also disclosed that the federal government had commenced payment of $496million in the final settlement of a contractual dispute with Global Steel Group.

Earlier, the minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed lamented that indelible legacies of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration were largely downplayed in areas of food security and the scaling up of made-in-Nigeria products.

Mohammed noted that in spite of the crises affecting the cost of living globally, the administration had done well since assuming office in the area of self-sufficiency in most basic needs.

He said, “I am sure many of us have seen video clips of empty supermarket shelves in the Western world, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and the economic uncertainty, which have all combined to disrupt global supply chains.

“Long before these crises, however, President Muhammadu Buhari had, in a statement that has now turned out to be prescient, admonished Nigerians to grow what they eat and eat what they grow.

“Then, many neither understood the importance of that admonition nor appreciated its relevance.

“Well, it turned out that the consequence of that statement made Nigerians look inward and relied less on imports.

“This has saved Nigerians from hunger, especially during the prolonged global lockdown, when exporting nations shut their ports and borders and nations that relied on imports were struggling to meet their needs.”

The minister noted that the worst could have happened if the country had, during the period of the crises, relied on imports to feed itself.

He said the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative was a successful policy that made the production and distribution of fertiliser to farmers effective.

The minister said the increase in the number of fertiliser blending plants in the country from 10 in 2015 to 142 and the increase in the number of rice mills also from 10 in 2015 to 80 integrated rice mills, presently aided food sufficiency.

He said the nation’s farmers are now part of the economy, and companies and factories are coming up to manufacture, process and distribute food.

“If you visit our markets and supermarkets today, what you will see mostly are ‘made in Nigeria’ products. This is huge progress in such a short time,” he said.

Responding to the question of high prices of food items, the minister assured that as the country engaged more in local food production and moved closer to achieving food security, prices would begin to fall.

“For now, we must acknowledge the success we have achieved in the area of food production and in scaling up made-in-Nigeria products,’’ he added.