By HENRY UMORU & INALEGWU SHAIBU
ABUJA—AS the Senate Probe into the activities of Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE entered its fifth day yesterday, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was again accused of singlehandedly approving the concession of the Ajaokuta Steel Complex to Global Infrastructure Limited against due process.

Disclosing this yesterday before the Senator Ahmed Lawan led Adhoc Committee, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Architect Mohammed Musa Sada also revealed that the federal government spends N3.6 billion annually on the wages of workers of the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Complex.

The Minister explained that in spite of the state of the Ajaokuta company which no longer produces, the federal government pays N300 million per month to the workers in Ajaokuta while only N650 million is required to bring the company up to a production level where it can generate funds to sustain itself.

Former President Obasanjo’s action was also collaborated by the Director General of the BPE, Ms Bolanle Onagoruwa who stressed that the approval of the concession of Ajaokuta by Obasanjo was in violation of the BPE Act.

Speaking further, Architect Mohammed Musa Sada told the committee that Global Infrastructure ruined the Ajaokuta complex by stripping it of all valuable equipment and machineries, leading to the cancellation of the entire process by the federal government.

According to him, “The concession of Ajaokuta steel goes back to 2003 when the first company Solgas was chosen. I agreed with the BPE because I saw it in the letter that the ministry was the sole organization for driving the concession agreement.

“It was actually an inter-ministerial committee of the then Ministry of Power and Steel, Finance and Justice and BPE, which participated as a member of the committee. One thing, I have no record of any of the minute of that meeting to show that these are the deliberations taken.

“A letter was then raised by the then Minister of Power and Steel to the President, requesting the President’s approval to cancel the concession to Solgas and start discussion and conclude with another company Isfat, which is the mother company of Global Infrastructure. The President gave that approval.

“At a point in time, there was a share purchase agreement signed by the BPE. It was signed but never put into use, and I could not find any reason anywhere why it was not use. And the reason why the ministry was driving that process as against the BPE is something I am not privy to.

‘’But all I know is that there seems to be a tripod agreement between the companies that are interested, the presidency and the ministry. I think this is the tripod that seems to be moving. BPE is just following along when discussions are being done. In a nut shell, this is the situation. But as at now, that concession has already been terminated because of certain findings by government. A committee was set-up which found out that so many illegal things been done by Global Holding running Ajaokuta. It was cancelled.”

On what is required to put the company in place, the Minister said, “We need a merger N650 million to fix the complex to a level where it will be raising money to pay the workers there, but government is spending N300 million per month on workers salary for doing nothing.”

Sada who lamented that the privatization has failed in the steel sector, said, “All I will want to say is that I want to concur with everybody that the privatization of the steel sector which I am very familiar with is in a sorry state. We have not been able to move forward. The sole purpose of privatization is to drive value generate wealth employment and be able to take the country forward.”

In his contribution, a member of the committee, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa described the payment of the N300 million to workers a moribund Ajaokuta as unfortunate, adding, “N300 million every month, that is quite huge. The implication of that is that we spending a whopping N3.6 billion annually on salary when nothing are going on. But it is unfortunate; it shows that the company it was concession to was a major challenge.”

Also yesterday, Dangote Cement, owners of former Benue Cement Company disclosed that it is a success story, but there was the need for the committee to intervene in addressing the challenge of resistance from the host community.

Addressing the Panel, Senoir General Manager, Engr. Abdullahi Baba disclosed that the plant suffered serious deterioration between the time of due diligence and physical takeover leading to complete breakdown of the entire factory, adding that the plant was virtually a wreck while its debt profile rose from 1.2 billion to over six billion naira.