*Olamilekan Adegbite, Minister for Mines and Steel Developm, says COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war are major 鈥榰nplanned events鈥� that have scuttled revitalisation of the moribund but promising Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi State of Nigeria

*Says failure to revive the project 鈥榠s due to no fault of ours鈥� but Coronavirus

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite, Honourable Minister for Mines and Steel Development, has acknowledged that the Federal Government will not be able to deliver on its promise to revive the age-long, moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company, located in Kogi State, before the end of the current administration May 29, 2023.

The聽 Minister disclosed this development Thursday, March 31, 2022, while fielding question from the State House correspondents during the 34th Session of the State House Briefing in the State House, in Abuja, FCT.

Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite, Honourable Minister for Mines and Steel Development

Adegbite also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war were major unplanned events that scuttled the project鈥檚 revitalisation.

鈥淲here we are today, we may not be able to get Ajaokuta to work but I pray that we can start something permanent,鈥� he said.

鈥淚鈥檝e said it before. When we came back from Russia, yes, I went to the public and said, 鈥榣ook we will deliver Ajaokuta before the end of this tenure鈥�.

鈥淎nd I pray that I鈥檒l have a chance to go back and apologise, and explain what happened to the people before I leave office.

鈥淚t is due to no fault of ours. Everybody was ready to go, but unfortunately, COVID came in. So, it is a force majeure.鈥�

In 2020, the Minister had said the Ajaokuta Steel Mill was 90 percent complete and may be functional by early 2023.

The development of the steel mill was started in the 1970s, but has evaded completion several decades after.

The current revitalisation plan for the steel mill was kick-started in October 2019, when a Nigerian delegation, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, attended the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi, Russia.

In Sochi, President Buhari invited the Russians to help complete the steel mill on a Build-Operate-Transfer model, Adegbite said.

The Russians agreed and were set to arrive in Nigeria in March 2020, with the project to last for about two years.

However, the Coronavirus pandemic threw a spanner in the wheels as the countries closed their borders to halt the virus and the Russians were unable to fly into Nigeria for an on-site audit.

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