Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has disclosed that the solution to the problems facing Ajaokuta Steel Company does not lie in the hands of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who he said supervised its questionable and failed concession.
Mohammed stated this in Abuja on Thursday at the 19th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023).
In his opening remark, the minister said it was deceitful and out of desperation for power that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) promised to fix the company if voted into office.
He said Atiku, who made the promise about two weeks back during his campaign stop in Kogi State, was not sincere, warning Nigerians not to allow themselves “be conned twice’’.
“A little bit of background will show that the former Vice President was deceiving Nigerians when he made that promise. Ajaokuta was concessioned to Global Steel Industry in 2004 by the administration of then-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“Who was in charge of that administration’s privatisation programme? Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“That concession that turned out to be a mess was terminated by another PDP administration.
“If the former Vice President had any solution to the Ajaokuta challenge, and he didn’t execute it in 2004, why should Nigerians trust him to do so in 2023, almost 20 years later?, Mohammed said.