NANS calls for probe of Ajaokuta metal firm 

The leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students on Monday called on President Bola  Tinubu to order an immediate investigation into the alleged mismanagement of the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company.

NANS President, Lucky Emonefe, who made the call in a statement on Monday in Abuja, said all those involved in the mismanagement of the company must be brought to book.

According to the student body, the steel plant when completed and come alive would be a source of massive employment opportunities for Nigerian students upon graduation, as well as being a technology site where potential engineering students all over the country could come and experience technological innovations at its peak as they aspire for greatness in the field of engineering.

He also called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to launch an investigation into the management of the steel company.

Earlier, the Senate in February passed a resolution to probe the affairs of Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and the National Ore Mining Company in Kogi State from 2008 till date.

It also planned to unravel the mystery behind the payment of $496m allegedly made to Mr Pramod Mittal, the Chairman of Global Infrastructure Holdings Limited by the Federal Government in September 2022 as a settlement over contractual disputes.

It also resolved to investigate the circumstances that led to the re-concession of NIOMCO even when the initial concession agreement was validly terminated by the Yar’adua administration with a positive review by the International Chamber of Commerce, London.

NANS president, in the statement, said, “The government and the stakeholders alike are working assiduously to see that the company comes back to life. This is a good omen for the Renewed Hope Agenda to continue to flourish amidst the global economic crisis that has engulfed the world right about now.

“It is also worthy of note that the set of individuals who brought the Ajaokuta Steel Company to this comatose are still walking the street uninvestigated and unpunished.

“These people who have been indicted to the tune of several millions of US dollars further siphoned $496m in September 2022 through Buhari’s administration, have neither been probed nor punished.

“This is not a good precedence at all and if unchecked would create an avenue for dabbling into President Tinubu’s efforts at resuscitating the steel plant.

“These individuals including past corrupt government executives denied the public, most especially the youth, the benefit of experiencing the exodus of job opportunities, technological exposure and economic emancipation that would have been massively accrued to us all these while if they had done what was expected of them.

“They selfishly and callously mismanaged Ajaokuta Steel Company and grounded it with the notion that nothing will happen in the end. If acts like these go uninvestigated and unpunished, what is now the tendency that after rebuilding, some other people would not come and do the same thing to loot and ground it again the umpteenth time? This should not be.

“If there are individuals or groups of individuals protecting the corrupt managers of the Ajaokuta Steel Company and hereby shielding them from any form of probe and judgement, it simply means that they are beneficiaries of the ill-gotten proceeds of the mismanagement or they have other personal interests that are not people-friendly and that is tantamount to water down or nullify President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s fight against corruption.

“Hence, we implore the EFCC, ICPC and other related agencies to stand their ground against every form of intimidation or shielding, as they probe and investigate these heartless people.”