Engraced2020:
I wish this won't lead to another Ikoyigate

But wait, Look at my signature, you need to do that now

Don't the state governors have to sanction such a withdrawal from the Excess Crude Account? They had better not accede to the national wealth being sunk into that Soviet-built cesspit in Kogi that has defied all turnaround attempts.

SternProphet:


How old are you?
Where are you from?

I want to restrain myself as I type this. I know Nigerian youths are very annoying so I will be restrained and very elementary.

Nigeria = plenty of youths (demographically speaking)
Youths = need a future, jobs, get married to whom they love,
have kids
Ajaokuta = Steel plant. They call it a basic industry.

Ajaokuta Steel Plant = liquid Steel + 30 very useful products and
gases

Ajaokuta can produce raw materials for 30 other industries.

Ajaokuta can produce enough Steel to 100x the current Nigerian rail capacity.

Trump is protecting US Steel and Aluminium. I don't like Trump but he struggles not to be a fool. Here he may have succeeded.

Why should Nigeria be foolish and not complete Ajaokuta

When a young man comes on Nairaland to vomit timidly what global Steel makers and their agents want to do to make us dependent, it means generational curses are at work. You showing off stupidly.

The stupidest idea running on the Internet is suggesting that Nigeria cannot run a steel plant.

They are not insulting Buhari they are insulting young Nigerian Engineers.

Ethiopia and Egypt and S. Africa are running Steel plants.

It is even sad that some of our brothers from the S.East have joined the crowd...you know showing off over nothing.

If Ajaokuta was sited in Enugu , won't it have been running since 1979?.

Please I like you but please think deep about issues before jumping in. Don't be mentally timid, running with other people's ideas.

Ajaokuta is a challenge. Nigeria will run it and develop other basic industries, defence industries, foundries and more sophisticated stuff from it. We shall become an exporter .

It can run, WITH or WITHOUT government. Ethiopian and Egyptian plants are not privately owned.

I could not agree with you less based on your wonderful analysis on the subject matter,kudos to you for this ,but I would want to point out some salient issues affecting the final completion and running of the plant, they are as follows

1.corruption
2.policy direction
3.lack of political will
4.Connecting with experts in the diaspora with the requisite knowledge

The list goes on and on, we can be pumping money on a project over the years without an end date, this means something is fundamentally wrong in the planning and execution process.......

Obi1kenobi:


Don't the state governors have to sanction such a withdrawal from the Excess Crude Account? They had better not accede to the national wealth being sunk into that Soviet-built cesspit in Kogi that has defied all turnaround attempts.

I am telling you but most of the Govnors are Buhari and APC puppets

Elections are around the corner ...only approvals like this can give the needed funds to prosecute 2019 agenda. nuff said .


expect more of these kind of approvals in the next 8 months

SternProphet:


I beg your pardon, the ECA is not a legal account but the National Assembly can definitely legislate on it.
The ECA is not savings.
It is a container for funds accruing above crude oil sales receipt.
It is definitely not for the rainy day. Define rainy day.
Rainy day funds go to sovereign wealth funds SWFs, strategic saving accounts earning interest and portions of the external reserves can be savings.

We need to save the steel industry. The expected GAINS are earth shaking. It can do to the economy even more than Dangote 's refinery.

Oga stop making noise. Only 51% of the ECA belongs to the FG.

hello Guys..I currently resides in Ajaokuta.have lived here all my life,and no the steel politics alittle.but.I feel the approach of the NASS is comendable.cos.the decision to privatize the plant will only rob Nigeria and Nigerian of their right.the concession arrangement is a fraud.like the DIScos...that why the REPs took sure decision..but sincerely I believe in the steel project and pray it works cos.its the only solution to the diversification of the economy and development of Nigeria..

SternProphet:


Steel is now a strategic industry to be nurtured like in the 70s . No more Global players because Trump has decided to protect US Steel. US Steel and Aluminium are now more expensive in US itself than the imported high tariffed Steel from China because US Steel makers want to make enough money in the short term to replace all their equipment.

We needed to do same to our own.

now in place of steel put RICE. Can we say PMB policy on the agro industry is a master stroke that will put Nigeria back on its feet.

wasted Resources

Pls can someone go and watch Natasha Akpoti’s talk on the floor of the house and know why it’s important we get the steel industry up and running

Ham5ter:
Pls can someone go and watch Natasha Akpoti’s talk on the floor of the house and know why it’s important we get the steel industry up and running

That lady did a good job on researching of the Ajaokuta steel plant some years back and if I am not mistaken he tenacity brought to the front burner the need to revisit and take a firm decision on the way forward in ensuring the plant works at maximum capacity to deliver the expected GAINS ,first to the people of KOGI state ,the FGN and the nation as whole .

If you have time read some of her articles on the subject matter, you won't regret adding to your knowledge reservoir

Cheers

billante:


Guy you don't know what you are talking about

Ajaokuta has been privitized a couple of times and it was made worse than it was.

The indians are not genuinely competent to complete and run that important national asset well...they are just there to strip and rip the place without putting in a significant amount of investment.

Let govt provide the money for the original builders of ajaokuta to complete the steel plant before private hands are called in to manage it

The person that quoted you and bashed you for talking rubbish was right. The original builders of the plant, a Soviet firm, no longer exists. The best way to go is the way the minister of steel has directed. No FG money should be voted for that plant. Those stupid criminals or REPS are joking if they think Buhari will sign that crazy bill, or even allow for 300billion of our money to be flushed into the toilet in the name of saving Ajaokuta. Those REPS think it's Jonathan that's still in charge.

Bottomless pit of corruption.
#360 B is nothing but a drop into the ocean.
Oh, did someone say Buhari needs money for re-election?

vanunu:
The days when foreign companies build steel plants of these magnitude for other countries are gone. In other words, no Indian or Chinese company is coming to Nigeria to build Ajaokuta for us. Any money invested on that plant is a total waste.

We are not serious about completing that project it seems. Or rather, our 'leaders' aren't serious. Perhaps it is part of the package they have to go through, as puppets of foreign powers, not to actualise Ajaokuta, and turn Nigeria to an industrial power.

Why else would it take several decades to complete a steel plant? I think the problem goes beyond Nigeria. There are foreign influences at work.

I also refuse to believe that Nigeria lacks the required expertise to complete that steel mill without foreigners. We have world class engineers stationed all over the world. They can be summoned and asked to do the job for, if our 'leaders' were serious, and no nation wanted to help, like you stated.

omohayek:

Oh really? Tell us exactly when it was privatised, and who bought it for how much. Tell us how the government then reacquired it after selling it off. You don't have the first clue what you're talking about.


Again, more pontificating based on nothing more than prejudice masquerading as knowledge. If Indians don't have the competence, how did ArcelorMittal become the world's biggest steel company, and its biggest shareholder - Lakshmi Mittal - the third richest man in the world?


The idiocy and ignorance packed into this single statement is simply unbelievable! What exactly do you think Nigerian governments have been doing with Ajaokuta since the 1970s other than pouring more money into a black hole? And do you realise that "the original builders" that you mention no longer even exist, as the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991?

You're ever so typical of totally ignorant Nigerians who refuse to let their ignorance stop them from wanting to pour yet more good money after bad, even with more than 40 years of failure staring them in the face.

u are totally incorrect my brother....I watched the plenary session concerning this ajaokuata last month,the guest speaker, Natasha hadiza akpoti,who I guessed is the spokeswoman of the original builder,made us know that the original Russian builders are still functioning and are also responsible for building and maintenance of the 5 largest steel plants in Asia....she also made us know how much abacha syphoned when trying to revive the steel plant.obasanjo did sign MoU with the original buildera,but he didn't fulfill it....the original builders still exist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1QTfGYj_0g&t=501s
please watch the video

omohayek:

Oh really? Tell us exactly when it was privatised, and who bought it for how much. Tell us how the government then reacquired it after selling it off. You don't have the first clue what you're talking about.


Again, more pontificating based on nothing more than prejudice masquerading as knowledge. If Indians don't have the competence, how did ArcelorMittal become the world's biggest steel company, and its biggest shareholder - Lakshmi Mittal - the third richest man in the world?


The idiocy and ignorance packed into this single statement is simply unbelievable! What exactly do you think Nigerian governments have been doing with Ajaokuta since the 1970s other than pouring more money into a black hole? And do you realise that "the original builders" that you mention no longer even exist, as the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991?

You're ever so typical of totally ignorant Nigerians who refuse to let their ignorance stop them from wanting to pour yet more good money after bad, even with more than 40 years of failure staring them in the face.

davicto:

hello Guys..I currently resides in Ajaokuta.have lived here all my life,and no the steel politics alittle.but.I feel the approach of the NASS is comendable.cos.the decision to privatize the plant will only rob Nigeria and Nigerian of their right.the concession arrangement is a fraud.like the DIScos...that why the REPs took sure decision..but sincerely I believe in the steel project and pray it works cos.its the only solution to the diversification of the economy and development of Nigeria..

I watched the plenary session last month ,the guest, speaker Natasha hadiza akpoti really exposed shady deals behind the privatisation of ajaokuata.she particularly mentioned how logic govnor and the private firm that tried to buy it were related and that the govnor was trying to buy it...reps were really amazed by her Revelation and ordered the security force to protect her..

she really prompted this maintenance and non-privatisation of ajaokuta....I guess she has a link with the Russian builder,cos she was so particular about calling them back to maintain what they built

Them want this money b4 elections by force. A billion dollars can build a brand new smaller steel plant, but year by year or administration after administration they keep allocating without results. Instead of resuscitating obsolete equipment, make a new set up. Some basic things like the rail line, housing, roads, electricity and other infrastructure are already in place so not too much work is required.

Officials loves re-commissioning projects as a way to embezzle. Take the Niger bridge for example, how many decades does it take to build a few miles long bridge?

SternProphet:


I beg your pardon, the ECA is not a legal account but the National Assembly can definitely legislate on it.
The ECA is not savings.
It is a container for funds accruing above crude oil sales receipt.
It is definitely not for the rainy day. Define rainy day.
Rainy day funds go to sovereign wealth funds SWFs, strategic saving accounts earning interest and portions of the external reserves can be savings.

We need to save the steel industry. The expected GAINS are earth shaking. It can do to the economy even more than Dangote 's refinery.

You hammered so much on the importance of the project to Nigeria, I agree with you completely and I believe a lot of Nigerians know how well the steel and other products from Ajaokuta will boast our economy. The issue is that Ajaokuta has REMAINED UNPRODUCTIVE after many years of pumping billions into it by various governments. Continuing to pump in money may not work because it has never worked in these past years and we cannot allow such potential asset to waste. l think we should involve, REPUTABLE and CAPABLE investors to run it, based on GENUINE agreement that will favour our economy and create jobs.

i was in that steel complex in 2012 on an expedition as a young geologist.. it baffles me seeing the place over grown with weeds. it was an eyesore and I wept that we have this iron ore,steel complex lying in waste and we importing iron billets,steel from foreign countries at exorbitant prices...also the plant can employ over 10,000 direct labour..imaging our foundries, military, construction, civil industries receive their irons and steels from this place.. we can compete with the likes of China, Germany in machineries construction, Bridges, roads name it..
the discovery of iron change the face of civilization then in Egypt.
we are our own enemies if we couldn't revive the back bone of industrialisation which is steel/iron...

Ajaokuta can only benefit us only if it is productive.

omohayek:

Oh really? Tell us exactly when it was privatised, and who bought it for how much. Tell us how the government then reacquired it after selling it off. You don't have the first clue what you're talking about.


Again, more pontificating based on nothing more than prejudice masquerading as knowledge. If Indians don't have the competence, how did ArcelorMittal become the world's biggest steel company, and its biggest shareholder - Lakshmi Mittal - the third richest man in the world?


The idiocy and ignorance packed into this single statement is simply unbelievable! What exactly do you think Nigerian governments have been doing with Ajaokuta since the 1970s other than pouring more money into a black hole? And do you realise that "the original builders" that you mention no longer even exist, as the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991?

You're ever so typical of totally ignorant Nigerians who refuse to let their ignorance stop them from wanting to pour yet more good money after bad, even with more than 40 years of failure staring them in the face.

Omohayek,my research associate ,good we are meeting once again on this discourse ,leave some of these guys alone they don't want to learn let them go and read about Ajaokuta steel company and the history of Ajaokuta people to enable them understand that it's just a sinking fund project

SternProphet:


How old are you?
Where are you from?

I want to restrain myself as I type this. I know Nigerian youths are very annoying so I will be restrained and very elementary.

Nigeria = plenty of youths (demographically speaking)
Youths = need a future, jobs, get married to whom they love,
have kids
Ajaokuta = Steel plant. They call it a basic industry.

Ajaokuta Steel Plant = liquid Steel + 30 very useful products and
gases

Ajaokuta can produce raw materials for 30 other industries.

Ajaokuta can produce enough Steel to 100x the current Nigerian rail capacity.

Trump is protecting US Steel and Aluminium. I don't like Trump but he struggles not to be a fool. Here he may have succeeded.

Why should Nigeria be foolish and not complete Ajaokuta

When a young man comes on Nairaland to vomit timidly what global Steel makers and their agents want to do to make us dependent, it means generational curses are at work. You showing off stupidly.

The stupidest idea running on the Internet is suggesting that Nigeria cannot run a steel plant.

They are not insulting Buhari they are insulting young Nigerian Engineers.

Ethiopia and Egypt and S. Africa are running Steel plants.

It is even sad that some of our brothers from the S.East have joined the crowd...you know showing off over nothing.

If Ajaokuta was sited in Enugu , won't it have been running since 1979?.

Please I like you but please think deep about issues before jumping in. Don't be mentally timid, running with other people's ideas.

Ajaokuta is a challenge. Nigeria will run it and develop other basic industries, defence industries, foundries and more sophisticated stuff from it. We shall become an exporter .

It can run, WITH or WITHOUT government. Ethiopian and Egyptian plants are not privately owned.

What you have said here is the truth, but there's one sad bit of it where I totally disagree with you. You highlighted the immense benefits the completion of ASC would bring to the country and all you said there is true. But a very very bitter and embarassing fact which you missed is the pathetic incapacity of the Nigerian government to manage anything efficiently.

Are you aware that not a single enterprise owned/operated by the Nigerian government works?... It's a sad reality which MUST be embraced by all. We arent the same as Ethiopia or Egypt, the Nigerian governments, past and present since 1960 has never succeeded in managing any single enterprise efficiently, from NEPA to NITEL to Nigeria Airways, to Delta Steel company, to NNPC, to the 4 refineries, to all our shitty airports, seaports, highways, universities, hospitals and the list is endless. A miracle is certainly not going to happen for Ajaokuta steel company and this is a FACT.

The only things working in Nigeria today are private enterprises such as telecommunications companies; then you have a government enterprise like NLNG working efficiently only because it is operated by Shell. As a concerned Nigerian who understands the pathetic incapacity of the government to operate anything efficiently, whilst I would definitely love ASC to be completed and functional, I am in total support of it being left for more competent and efficient private owners. There's no benefit to anyone that ASC remains in the hands of the govt as a perpetual moribund liability instead of an asset; so let's leave this ill thought 'patriotism' by the reps and face facts.

The real debate now should be how to ensure due process in transferring the company to serious private investors who can actually complete and run it efficiently; my real worry is how to avoid the monumental scam privatisation which we experienced with the power companies.

martineverest:
u are totally incorrect my brother....I watched the plenary session concerning this ajaokuata last month,the guest speaker, Natasha hadiza akpoti,who I guessed is the spokeswoman of the original builder,made us know that the original Russian builders are still functioning and are also responsible for building and maintenance of the 5 largest steel plants in Asia....she also made us know how much abacha syphoned when trying to revive the steel plant.obasanjo did sign MoU with the original buildera,but he didn't fulfill it....the original builders still exist

Oga this nonsense you typed is a categorical lie. The builder of that plant was a Soviet company that is now defunct. That Natasha lady is working for interests that are bent on cornering money that the REPS and their sponsors want to divert. Those REPS have an agenda and they brought someone (Natasha) to solidify that agenda. How on earth did the REPS arrive at 300billion as the cost for the refurbishment of the plant? Who did the estimation and the costing? Where are the tenders that were submitted for the project? What are the machines and instruments that will be purchased? Someone just sat on his toilet seat and thought of a big round figure starting with 3 and ending with plenty zeros!
The way Nigerians get hoodwinked these days is on another level!!! The same REPS the approved the N500million that was budgeted for the Privitization process of the Ajaokuta plant after a detailed public hearing now went to the backdoor and procured a woman (Natasha) with no traceable background and on the payroll of interest groups, to defend the comic allocation of N300 billion! of our excess reserves to the toilet. I'm sure one of those REPS came up with the 300 figure while he was deep inside Natasha.

duni04:

Oga this nonsense you typed is a categorical lie. The builder of that plant was a Soviet company that is now defunct. That Natasha lady is working for interests that are bent on cornering money that the REPS and their sponsors want to divert. Those REPS have an agenda and they brought someone (Natasha) to solidify that agenda. How on earth did the REPS arrive at 300billion as the cost for the refurbishment of the plant? Who did the estimation and the costing? Where are the tenders that were submitted for the project? What are the machines and instruments that will be purchased? Someone just sat on his toilet seat and thought of a big round figure starting with 3 and ending with plenty zeros!
The way Nigerians get hoodwinked these days is on another level!!! The same REPS the approved the N500million that was budgeted for the Privitization process of the Ajaokuta plant after a detailed public hearing now went to the backdoor and procured a woman (Natasha) with no traceable background and on the payroll of interest groups, to defend the comic allocation of N300 billion! of our excess reserves to the toilet. I'm sure one of those REPS came up with the 300 figure while he was deep inside Natasha.

Well anything is possible based on your assumptions/ theory, but as for the lady saying she has no identity go back and read about her very well she has being advocating for the successful completion of the Ajaokuta project for over 5 years now if my memory is not failing me,even the Russian government were skeptical of her when she was digging into the company that constructed the steel plant

duni04:

Oga this nonsense you typed is a categorical lie. The builder of that plant was a Soviet company that is now defunct. That Natasha lady is working for interests that are bent on cornering money that the REPS and their sponsors want to divert. Those REPS have an agenda and they brought someone (Natasha) to solidify that agenda. How on earth did the REPS arrive at 300billion as the cost for the refurbishment of the plant? Who did the estimation and the costing? Where are the tenders that were submitted for the project? What are the machines and instruments that will be purchased? Someone just sat on his toilet seat and thought of a big round figure starting with 3 and ending with plenty zeros!
The way Nigerians get hoodwinked these days is on another level!!! The same REPS the approved the N500million that was budgeted for the Privitization process of the Ajaokuta plant after a detailed public hearing now went to the backdoor and procured a woman (Natasha) with no traceable background and on the payroll of interest groups, to defend the comic allocation of N300 billion! of our excess reserves to the toilet. I'm sure one of those REPS came up with the 300 figure while he was deep inside Natasha.

smh....... the actual amount that was requested by the Russian firm was 1billion dollars for maintenance

Flaghouse1:



Well anything is possible based on your assumptions/ theory, but as for the lady saying she has no identity go back and read about her very well she has being advocating for the successful completion of the Ajaokuta project for over 5 years now if my memory is not failing me,even the Russian government were skeptical of her when she was digging into the company that constructed the steel plant

Oga read this and educate yourself on who this woman is

http://dailypost.ng/2017/02/03/group-clashes-natasha-akpoti-alleged-sponsored-campaign-ajaokuta-steel-company/amp/

She has no background in steel. She claims she has an M.A in oil and gas but no one knows where she got it from. She is a divorcee from Kogi with a Ukrainian mother. She currently runs an NGO for women in her home state. Does it not bother you that the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria voted to cancel the Privitization of the ASC, budget N300 billion of our money for it and even remove the ASC from the list of government companies that can be privatized based on the testimony of a divorcee from Kogi with no background whatsoever in the steel industry and who runs an NGO for women? If it doesn't bother you, it really bothers me that our house of reps trusts the testimony of a divorcee single mother with no authority or expertise in any field over the Minister of Solid Minerals. I'm shocked and dumbfounded.

martineverest:
u are totally incorrect my brother....I watched the plenary session concerning this ajaokuata last month,the guest speaker, Natasha hadiza akpoti,who I guessed is the spokeswoman of the original builder,made us know that the original Russian builders are still functioning and are also responsible for building and maintenance of the 5 largest steel plants in Asia....she also made us know how much abacha syphoned when trying to revive the steel plant.obasanjo did sign MoU with the original buildera,but he didn't fulfill it....the original builders still exist

You people should stop deceiving yourself. There is no original builder any where again. That was how Jonathan told us the solution to revamping our refineries is in bringing the original builder to do the turn around maintenance. Contract signed and billions paid, the refineries are still comatose. Same will happen to this Ajaokuta. Some Russians have obviously bribed some members of the house of reps to push this silly idea that only them can make the Steel company work. But trust me, the illegality that the house of reps is trying to perpetuate with this bill will not work. Buhari will never sign this bill of corruption into law and even if they override his veto, the illegal law will never be implemented as the power of implementation still resides with the executive.

martineverest:
smh....... the actual amount that was requested by the Russian firm was 1billion dollars for maintenance

Oga what is the name of the Russian firm making that request??

scammers everywhere! Ndi ochi

duni04:

Oga read this and educate yourself on who this woman is

http://dailypost.ng/2017/02/03/group-clashes-natasha-akpoti-alleged-sponsored-campaign-ajaokuta-steel-company/amp/

She has no background in steel. She claims she has an M.A in oil and gas but no one knows where she got it from. She is a divorcee from Kogi with a Ukrainian mother. She currently runs an NGO for women in her home state. Does it not bother you that the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria voted to cancel the Privitization of the ASC, budget N300 billion of our money for it and even remove the ASC from the list of government companies that can be privatized based on the testimony of a divorcee from Kogi with no background whatsoever in the steel industry and who runs an NGO for women? If it doesn't bother you, it really bothers me that our house of reps trusts the testimony of a divorcee single mother with no authority or expertise in any field over the Minister of Solid Minerals. I'm shocked and dumbfounded.

Thanks for your link,,I am not saying she has expert judgement on the subject matter, but rather she was the only crying voice in the wilderness that seems to bring the ASC TO THE FRONT BURNER, If you have ever worked in Kogi state you will know that the ASC is like a cursed project.

Now to the matter i am not divulging corruption from the revamping of the structure,it's just so unfortunate that year on year billions spent does not really translate to milestones over the years.

I believe you see my position now

martineverest:
smh....... the actual amount that was requested by the Russian firm was 1billion dollars for maintenance

When did the Russian firm made the request and is there an existing valid contract between the federal government of Nigeria and the firm?

Flaghouse1:


Thanks for your link,,I am not saying she has expert judgement on the subject matter, but rather she was the only crying voice in the wilderness that seems to bring the ASC TO THE FRONT BURNER, If you have ever worked in Kogi state you will know that the ASC is like a cursed project.

Now to the matter i am not divulging corruption from the revamping of the structure,it's just so unfortunate that year on year billions spent does not really translate to milestones over the years.

I believe you see my position now

Oga you still are nt getting the point. She is not any crying voice!!! She is just part of a conspiracy to swindle Nigeria of N300billion naira! The house of Reps of the Federal Republic of Nigeria made a major policy shift based on the advise of a woman who has no background whatsoever in Steel and whose only claim to fame is her women's NGO!!! In another country this would be a national scandal! But somehow we even have dunces on this thread quoting what the lady said in the National Assembly and on NTA, without even knowing anything about her background or who she represents!!! Of all the Iron an steel experts an Engineers in Nigeria, our House of reps decides to make a major policy change based on a women's NGO activists testimony!!!