Mining union faults FG on planned sale of Ajaokuta Steel Company

The Nigerian Union of Mines Workers (NUMW) has said that the inability of the Central Bank of Nigeria to articulate policy measure that will lead to the rejuvenation of the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company (ASCO), including government’s disposition to selling ASCO, a decision supported by CBN, reflects the intellectual poverty of the country’s apex financial institution.

NUMW is the umbrella body responsible for the affairs of mines workers in Nigeria.

It could be recall that while briefing the Nigerian delegation at the end of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Group meetings in Bali, Indonesia, recently, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said Ajaokuta Steel Company and other national assets will be sold to service the 2018 deficit budget.

While describing ASCO as the bedrock of Nigeria’s industrialization which must be nurtured and prioritized as an emblem of national pride, the National President of the Mining Union, Comr. Hamza Mohammed, called on government to ensure that ASCO remains under domestic ownership and control, adding that countries which developed their indigenous steel sectors have become better for it.

He tasked Emefiele and the Minister of Finance to articulate a policy direction for the funds needed to resuscitate ASCO. He called on the Senate to intervene by ensuring that the nations institutions in the finance sector work toward articulating a poly measure to address the problem.

Hamza who commended the Nigeria Metallurgical Society (NMS) and other professional bodies in the sector for condemning the idea of selling ASCO, called on the federal government to articulate policy measures for the utilization of ASCO in the industrialization of Nigeria, adding that unless Nigeria develops her industrial sectors, it will not be able to play big in the committee of nations.

Hamza noted that it is not a good policy proposal to say that ASCO should be sold for the purpose of financing the 2018 budget, adding that only a mindless government will sell such a highly strategic institution to finance a year’s budget.

While stating that “the industrialization of ASCO, National Iron Ore mining Company (NIOMCO), Delta Steel Company (DSC) and the development of Nigeria’s iron and steel sector have never been negotiable and is still not negotiable, and will never be negotiable,” Hamza warned that the National Executive Council of the Mining Union will soon convene to deliberate on the necessity of embarking on a nationwide strike action if government does not heed the clarion call to shelve plans of selling the steel complex.