Ndoma-Egba: Corruption Killed Ajaokuta Steel Company

Leader of the Nigerian Senate, Victor Ndoma-Egba, has declared that the Ajaokuta Steel Company has remained a victim of the corruption that is ravaging the entire country.

He said as a result of this big challenge, the project is yet to be completed for the benefit of the country.

The Senator representing Cross River Central Senatorial District, who spoke in Abuja on issues relating to the company, said it was saddening for a project that began 40 years ago to remain almost comatose as a result of corruption.

The steel company is believed to have the capacity of creating over two million jobs for Nigerians, but the government has continuously failed to complete the project that has gulped billions of naira.

As a result, many Nigerians had concluded that the project was being stalled by external forces.

The Senate Leader declared: “I feel diminished as a Nigerian each time I remember the story of Ajaokuta Steel (company).

“That project started when I was still an undergraduate. And in a few years, I would have been a graduate for 40 years. Yet, the project is still going on.

“So, there are a number of issues. That it hasn’t worked certainly has been as a result of corruption.

“For heaven’s sake, even for the pride of the nation, I think that project has dragged on for too long, that we should as a nation be embarrassed that almost 40 years later, we are still talking about an uncompleted Ajaokuta Steel.

“One thing I can say with certainty, if we as Nigerians are determined to complete Ajaokuta Steel, we will complete it, external forces notwithstanding.

“No amount of external forces should stop the completion of a project that is capable of bringing total transformation and advancement to our economy.”

The Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta affairs, Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman, had since last year made a case for the completion of the project by the government.

In a recent statement by the senator, he disclosed that some people within the Nigerian government were collaborating with forces outside the country to undermine the completion of the project for their selfish reasons.

—Eromosele Ebhomele