The House of Representatives on Thursday summoned the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, over the “modified concession” of the Nigerian Iron Ore Mining Company, Itakpe, to Global Steel Holdings Limited.
The House also demanded urgent update on the state of Ajaokuta Steel Company and other steel sector firms, which had been surrounded by controversies over time.
The House’ Sub-Committee on Steel resolved to summon the minister after the Bureau of Public Enterprises told lawmakers that the modified concession was done without the participation of the agency.
The National Council on Privatisation oversees the Federal Government’s Programme on Privatisation, but the BPE is the technical agency of the NCP, which does the execution.
The government had, a fortnight ago, entered into a re-negotiated concession agreement with Global Steel Holdings Limited on NIOMCO.
The House had ordered an investigation into the transaction after receiving a series of petitions from stakeholders in the steel sector, including workers.
However, Fayemi and other top officials were absent as the House committee opened a public hearing at the National Assembly, Abuja, on the matter.
The committee stated that Fayemi, being the minister, should appear before members on Thursday next week to disclose the details of the agreement he signed with GSHL.
The BPE’s position was presented to the committee by Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi.
Abdullahi represented the acting Director-General of the BPE, Dr. Vincent Akpotaire.
Abdullahi said, “The concession of NIOMCO was done by the ministry and not by BPE; so BPE doesn’t have the details…
“We are being supervised by the NCP. So, essentially, there has to be directives and instructions from the NCP.”
There were protests by various stakeholders.
For instance, the Executive Secretary-General of the African Iron and Steel Association, Dr. Sanusi Muhammed, informed lawmakers that stakeholders were not involved in the modified concession negotiations.
He explained, “The privatisation of NIOMCO is null and void since BPE, the technical partner of NCP, which is in charge of privatisation, did not participate…
“And the minister said it is a modified agreement but nobody is allowed to see it. No stakeholder was invited. So, we are interested in knowing what the agreement looks like.”
Similarly, the co-Chairman, Iron and Steel Development Committee, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Prof. David Esezobor, told the committee that the concession was done despite telling the minister not to go ahead with it because there were unresolved issues.
“When we held a meeting, we agreed that NIOMCO should not enter into concessioned with GSHL,” he claimed.
The lawmakers expressed disbelief that NIOMCO found its way back into the hands of the Indian firm despite the failure of previous governments to conclude the concession due to mounting controversies.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Gabriel Kolawole, said there were piles of documents on why the concession plan had failed in the past.
He added, “It means that we are still doing things the old way. Now, NIOMCO is back into the hands of Global Holdings, which had failed us in the past. And it is NIOMCO that supplies Ajaokuta Steel with raw materials.”
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