The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc Olamilekan Adegbite, has said the federal government has engaged a British firm that is ready to do a technical audit of the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited for free.
The decision came after the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine.
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He said this Thursday while fielding questions from State House reporters at the special weekly briefing coordinated by the Presidential Communications Team in Abuja.
This newspaper had erroneously reported that the British firm would fix the company for free, but it was discovered that only the audit would be free.
The minister, while speaking on the efforts to revive the steel company under the current administration, said President Muhammadu Buhari had initially approved the release of $2 million for the conduct of a technical audit of the mill as demanded by Russians before the restart of its implementation.
He said the technical audit was necessary to ascertain the condition of the facility before restarting the work.
According to him, as arrangements were being made to commence the process, COVID-19 came and put a halt to all activities causing a force majeure.
He said as the government moved to continue the earlier negotiations with Russia, progress was again stopped by the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The minister said the approved $2 million for the technical audit was still intact as it has not been paid out.
Adegbite said the company might not be fully revived under the current administration as earlier promised.
