Twenty-three Russian engineers who visited the Ajaokuta Steel Company have concluded the company’s technical audit and returned to their country.
It was learnt that the audit, which covered an investigation into the cause of the abandoned project, was done in seven days.
When LEADERSHIP Weekend contacted the company for an update on the Russian team’s visit, an official, who craved anonymity, said the experts spent days in the complex, investigating the present state of its facilities and what it would take to make them work.
The official said, “They returned to Russia after the technical audit. I’m sure you are aware that the minister of steel development, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the builders of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant, Messrs Tyazhpromexport, for the rehabilitation, completion, and operation of the plant and the National Iron Ore Mining Company.
“They are waiting to receive a go-ahead from the federal government so they can start work on the revitalisation of the steel complex,” he said.
Last August, the Russian engineers arrived in Ajaokuta for a technical audit and reportedly identified some analogue equipment that should be replaced with digital ones for effective operations.
The sole administrator of the Ajaokuta Steel Company, Sumaila Abdul-Akaba, who confirmed their visit, had said the engineers visited several units including the thermal power plant, light mills section and the oxygen plant.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Senate ad-hoc committee investigating activities at Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and the National Iron Ore Mining Company, Itakpe, both in Kogi State, has said that it was high time the “jinx” surrounding the company was broken.
The committee, led by Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire, made the statement on Wednesday during a meeting with the company’s workers and management.
Adegbonmire said, “The committee is here at the steel plant with a firm commitment to uncover why the Ajaokuta Steel Plant remains non-operational, decades after its establishment. Our visit is aimed at gaining an understanding of the situation and gathering first-hand information. Our mission is to break the jinx and ensure the steel plant becomes operational.”
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