FG plans Alternative Funding for Ajaokuta Steel Plant

The Federal Government is looking for alternative ways of seeking for funding in its bid to complete the Ajaokuta steel plant and making it functioning.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel, Chief John Femi Jegede who disclosed this yesterday at Ajaokuta steel complex, kogi state during farmilarization tour of the steel plant, said the plant is crucial to the realization of president Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda.

He said the minister and ministry is looking for alternative ways of seeking for fund and fast track the completion of the remaining segments of the steel plant as it is the bedrock of the nation’s industrialization.

“What we mean by alternative funding is signing of Memorandum of understanding to complete the remaining part of the plant. currently we have signed MOU to complete some segments of it and those that are not working before are now functioning. More MOU will come into play and the plant will work. As soon as this report is submitted to the minister, action would be taken because the investment is huge and cannot be downplayed,” said

He however commended the efforts of the steel workers in making the planr viable despite the long abandonment, calling on the management of the plant to come up with more MOU to revatilze the plant.

Earlier, the Sole Administrator, Ajaokuta steel company, Engr. Joseph Isah, said the steel plant is viable to put the country on the part of industralization if completed and put to use.

According to him, the steel plant has signed Memorandum of understanding with various investors to put the completed segments into use, saying that with the recent audit on the mechanical state of the plant is satisfactory.

He added that with the MOU, they have been able to recovered the abandoned shipments of spares of Broliers for the plant thermal worth over 2.5 million dolla which was abandoned an the lagos port since 2004.

He however identified inadequate funding and infrastructure as the problem confronting the steel, appealing to the federal government to make the plant functioning as the desire of the country to become one of the most 20th development economy by 2020 depend on the completion and functioning of the steel plant.