No fewer than 11 companies are jostling to take over the Ajaokuta Steel Company, Mines and Steel Development minister, Olamilekan Adegbite, mentioned on Thursday.
Mr Adegbite made a presentation on the achievement of his ministry during the 9th edition of PMB Scorecard series, organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture.
He said the Buhari government had been able to resolve all contending legal issues with the steel company and was in the process of concessioning it to a competent bidder.
Ajaokuta Steel Company was concessioned in 2005 by then President Olusegun Obasanjo to Global Steel, which resulted in litigation and a demand of $7 billion by Global Steel.
“Things went sour and they took us to court. The court case went on for about 12 years, but thanks to a patriotic Nigerian lawyer in the UK who handled the case very effectively,” Mr Adegbite explained.
“Global Steel came with a demand of seven billion dollars, but our lawyer was able to puncture holes in their case and at the end, they had to settle for 496 million dollars.”
He said that the judgement was favourable to Nigeria.
According to the minister, the Buhari regime had plans to make Ajaokuta Steel Company functional before the end of 2022, but for the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
He, however, said that the government was still committed to ensuring that the company was concessioned to a competent bidder with technical and financial capacities to optimise its potential.
“We were supposed to make the plant work in 2022. One of the presidential mandates was to resolve all contending issues on Ajaokuta.