Due to the monumental failures of promises made by politicians especially during campaigns, a Development Economist, Ken Adedeji has cautioned the out-going administration not to conduct the kind of concessioning that is killing the nation’s power sector.
He said handing over critical national infrastructure to cronies in the name of concessioning will create systemic failure for the entire economy as its doing now in the electricity sector.
Business Hilights recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari, while on State visit to Kogi State, averred how the Federal Government achieved the resolution of all legal entanglements that had bogged down the progress of the Ajaokuta Steel Complex.
According to him, the project stands to benefit the people of the state immensely.
“No other single project holds the key to unlocking this vast potential as much as the Ajaokuta Steel Complex which we inherited as a long moribund complex strangulating under a tangle of local and international commercial disputes.
Buhari noted that “I am glad to report that as we begin to round off in office, we can genuinely say that our administration has rescued Ajaokuta from all legal disabilities.
”It is now ready for concessioning to a private investor with the right profiles to put it to work for Nigeria in general and Kogi in particular.
”The process has cost this Federal Government over 400million dollars so far, but I consider it money well spent as we move closer to achieving our objective of transforming Kogi State into Nigeria’s iron and steel powerhouse,” he said.
“The benefits of getting Ajaokuta Steel Complex working again are numerous. It would provide over 500,000 estimated jobs and more than $1.6 billion in annual income to the Nigerian economy.
“Nigerians can rest assured that I remain committed to seeing this process to a logical conclusion before the end of my tenure in office,” outgoing Buhari said.
