The Senator representing Kogi-Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, and the Minister of Steel Development, Shuaib Audu, engaged in a heated exchange over the funding and development of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant during a joint sitting of the Senate and House of Representatives Mines and Steel Development budget defence session.
During the session, Akpoti-Uduaghan compared the steel plant’s funding needs with other federal projects, including the 750-kilometre coastal road, which has a projected cost of ₦15 trillion.
“The projected cost of the coastal road is seven times what Ajaokuta Steel requires. What is the government’s real intention in reviving this plant, which has been in a comatose state for years?” she asked.
The senator criticized the committee for holding meetings and engaging with the media, which she said had produced minimal impact in reviving the plant. She added that, during Audu’s three years as minister, the committee has repeatedly debated the best model for advancing the Ajaokuta Steel Company.
Akpoti-Uduaghan also referenced a 2019 bilateral agreement between Nigeria and Russia, under which $1.45 billion was reportedly pledged for the steel plant. She cautioned the minister against misleading Nigerians by misrepresenting the agreement.“We should not lie to Nigerians… and we have people that we are responsible to,” she said.
Audu, however, rejected the claim: “We are not lying to Nigerians. I take exception to that,” he said.
He explained that the bilateral agreement had stalled due to international sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.“Just to provide clarity, the Russian government and Russian Federation are under severe sanctions in the international financial market. So the transaction cannot move forward. These are not just mom-and-pop shops… we conducted due diligence all the way to the foreign ministry before signing the international MoU,” Audu stated.
The session was adjourned by Senator Patrick Ndubueze, representing Imo North and chairing the meeting, before Akpoti-Uduaghan could ask further questions.
Ajaokuta Steel Company is a state-owned steel mill in Nigeria, located in Ajaokuta, Kogi State. It was envisioned in 1979 as an integrated steel plant that could make Nigeria self-sufficient in steel production, support industrialisation, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Even though the plant structures were mostly built, the external infrastructure, such as rail links, road networks, and port access, was never finished or maintained. Without these, it’s extremely hard to bring in raw materials and move finished products.
Experts say the project faltered not simply because of money, but because successive governments failed to consistently prioritise it, leading to policy reversals, shifting plans, and neglect.
In this article