Nigeria’s waste pipe called Ajaokuta Steel: Govt spends N3.6bn yearly on idle workers.
The expected growth in the iron and steel sub section of Nigeria is
continuously dragged down by political intrigues, yet the country incurs
more wastes meeting huge financial obligations.
The wastes includes having to spend more than N3.6 billion yearly, as emoluments for sustaining the workforce of the Ajaokuta Steel Complex, numbering about 2,700, to keep the plant going without rolling out any product.
Also, over $5.6 billion has already gone down the drain in building and maintaining staff quarters, as well as bridges and road network within the complex, which are essential for the rolling out of products from the company.
But for the industry to go into real production, government is currently expected to bear another bill of about $1.21bn in 2017, for turning it around before its new investors can take it up.
Disclosing this to journalists, at the headquarters of the complex over the weekend, the Sole Administrator, Mr. Isah Onobere, reviewed the situation facing the 38-year-old company as needing urgent refocusing.
He gave a breakdown of the amount needed to be spent to get the complex back on line to include, $403 million to be added to the earlier $400 million proposed for total turn around maintenance of the steel complex which audit report has been ready for years, but not released.
“The over 100 per cent increase in the cost of the renovation of the complex came around because of the delay in providing the fund in the past 17 years when condition at the complex was not complicated.
They recalled how legal battles over the concession exercise had dragged on until August 2016, when the Federal Government reached an out-of-court settlement with the Indian firm, Global Infrastructure Holding Limited, which is expected to operate NIOMCO for a period of seven years as a settlement for renouncing any claim on the ASCL.
The workers regret the failure of the complex to have attracted huge foreign investment that could have created about 500,000 jobs in the upstream, midstream and downstream industries as has been the case in other countries with less the resources of Nigeria for the sector.
But the workers are still entertaining fear that the private company might sack most of them when it eventually takes cover the complex.
The wastes includes having to spend more than N3.6 billion yearly, as emoluments for sustaining the workforce of the Ajaokuta Steel Complex, numbering about 2,700, to keep the plant going without rolling out any product.
Also, over $5.6 billion has already gone down the drain in building and maintaining staff quarters, as well as bridges and road network within the complex, which are essential for the rolling out of products from the company.
But for the industry to go into real production, government is currently expected to bear another bill of about $1.21bn in 2017, for turning it around before its new investors can take it up.
Disclosing this to journalists, at the headquarters of the complex over the weekend, the Sole Administrator, Mr. Isah Onobere, reviewed the situation facing the 38-year-old company as needing urgent refocusing.
He gave a breakdown of the amount needed to be spent to get the complex back on line to include, $403 million to be added to the earlier $400 million proposed for total turn around maintenance of the steel complex which audit report has been ready for years, but not released.
“The over 100 per cent increase in the cost of the renovation of the complex came around because of the delay in providing the fund in the past 17 years when condition at the complex was not complicated.
They recalled how legal battles over the concession exercise had dragged on until August 2016, when the Federal Government reached an out-of-court settlement with the Indian firm, Global Infrastructure Holding Limited, which is expected to operate NIOMCO for a period of seven years as a settlement for renouncing any claim on the ASCL.
The workers regret the failure of the complex to have attracted huge foreign investment that could have created about 500,000 jobs in the upstream, midstream and downstream industries as has been the case in other countries with less the resources of Nigeria for the sector.
But the workers are still entertaining fear that the private company might sack most of them when it eventually takes cover the complex.
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