After decades of deadlock, the federal government has finally taken over the running of the Ajaokuta Steel Complex. It has also signed a renegotiated concession agreement with Global Steel Holdings Ltd (GSHL) for the Nigerian Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO), Itakpe.
With the new arrangement, Ajaokuta Steel Complex has effectively been freed from all contractual encumbrances that had left it uncompleted and non-functional for decades, as GSHL retains NIOMCO.
The new agreement, which followed four years of mediation, was signed at a ceremony presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Solid Minerals Development Minister, Kayode Fayemi signed on behalf of the government while Chairman of GSHL, Prammod Mittal signed on behalf of the company.
The Nigerian Steel Development Authority was created in 1971 to serve as a catalyst for the development of the country’s steel and iron ore deposits. In 1979, it entered into an agreement with Tiajpromexport (TPE), a Russian company, to construct a steel plant in Nigeria for five billion Deutsch Marks (DM); and the entity known as the Ajaokuta Steel Company was born. [myad]
