“As we speak, Ajaokuta has been disconnected by TCN and N30 billion is at stake,” Mr Audu said.
Nigeria’s Minister of Steel Development, Shuaibu Audu, on Thursday, lamented how the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) disconnected the moribund Ajaokuta Steel complex over its inability to pay the debt owed the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET).
Mr Audu raised concerns while addressing reporters in Abuja on Thursday.
“As we speak, Ajaokuta has been disconnected by TCN and N30 billion is at stake,” Mr Audu said.
“Do you think people take it seriously if a giant place like Ajaokuta has no electricity? Added to that, a place that has not been in production and owing so much, what’s the explanation?
“I mean these are some of the things that need to be clearly looked into. One of the things I spoke to the managing director of Ajaokuta today, and this was one of the questions I asked and we’re going to get to the bottom of it; why consumption of so much electricity in a place that is not operating at full capacity?
“Part of what we also need to do is that we’re trying to revive Ajaokuta in a collegiate system, in piecemeal, and so we may not have the capacity to be able to pay all those outstanding amounts immediately.
“Part of what the managing director of Ajaokuta told me is that most of the money is in interest payments. And NBET, the electricity company that has disconnected it, is also a government agency.”
Mr Audu noted that if efforts are being made to revive the Ajaokuta Steel, officials within the same government aren’t expected to make such processes difficult to navigate.
“And so part of what we plan to do is to sit down on the table in the next few days as quickly as possible to be able to come up with a plan so that they can put it back on the grid and put things back in order,” he added.
He noted that the revival of the project remains a gradual process, and can’t be completed overnight.
“So we need the support of the entire government apparatus, we need support from stakeholders. We need support from everyone to be able to do this difficult job.
“This job is not a job that myself and Mr President can do alone. We need the support of everyone including the electricity company to be able to help us to get this project back on track so that we can create the hundreds of thousands of jobs I want to create for Nigerians,” he said.
