Obasanjo illegally concessioned Ajaokuta

Obasanjo illegally concessioned Ajaokuta – FG

Details: Category: Opinions/Interviews; Published on Saturday, 13 August 2011 07:24; Written by Admin; Hits: 1002

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo usurped the powers of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) when the Presidency together with the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel in 2006 concessioned the Ajaokuta steel company in Kogi state to Global Infrastructure.

BPE’s Director General, Ms Bolanle Onogoruwa told the Senate ad-hoc committee investigating the activities of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on the privatisation and commercialization of Federal government owned public enterprises in Nigeria from 1999 to date heard yesterday. Ms Bolanle who spoke alongside Minister of state for Steel and Development, Alhaji Musa Sada said contrary to provisions of the Privatisation and Commercialisation Act of 1998, the presidency under Obasanjo did not involve the Bureau in the concessioning exercise.

For his part, Sada accused Global Infrastructure which also acquired Delta Steel company of asset stripping in Ajaokuta saying, “They were moving out equipments from Ajaokuta to Delta Steel. They cannibalised spare parts at the company and only wanted to use the place as a warehouse for DSC. “The steel sector is in a sorry state, we have not been able to move forward and the inability to use the machines have resulted in depreciation of value. Global Infrastructure has succeeded in asset stripping. They bought Delta Steel company and won the concession of Ajaokuta, they later added Iron Ore and they ended up treating all those entities basically as one,” the Minister informed the MPs.

He further disclosed that, the government spends about N4 billion naira annually to pay worker’s salaries for doing nothing.