By Comfort Olayinka
The National Assembly Joint Committee on Steel Development has raised serious concerns over the allocation of N2 billion for a “youth boot camp training” project, questioning discrepancies in the 2024 budget.
During a tense budget defense session on Wednesday, Minister of Steel Development, Shuaibu Abubakar, was pressed to explain why the project, advertised as a boot camp for 700 youths, was listed differently in the budget as “Technical Support for SMEs training around foundry production in three geopolitical zones.”
Co-chairman of the committee, Hon. Zainab Gimba, and Senate Committee Vice Chairman, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, warned that such inconsistencies could lead to investigations by anti-graft agencies, accusing the Ministry of potentially misappropriating funds. With N1.6 billion already released for the project, the committee urged the minister to correct the discrepancies before any further funds were spent.
Sen Natasha stated that “I hope you understand, because what this means is that you are carrying out an exercise that is not contained in the budget and that leads to misappropriation of funds.
“I hope you understand because what should have happened is there should have been a corrigendum and we are giving you a chance.
“Let me note this now. This is already a public record. So just if anyone here has access to this information, which I’m sure they do, and decides to write a petition to EFCC, you and your team could be arrested for this.
“You did say that even though you budgeted N2 billion, you have only had a release of N1.6 billion, but no Kobo has been spent out of it yet. So we are just advising you so that you will not have EFCC running after your necks.
“You should actually go back to the drawing board and take it that the funds you have spent conducting the little exercise which is an advertisement with the wrong advertisement should be corrected” she laments.
On her part: Hon Gimba said: “Please we are asking you to do that now. Let me just clarify. Minister, as a rider to what you are saying, let me tell you Honourable Minister, before we came into this meeting, I spoke with the Permanent Secretary, I told him that this thing is not the correct permanent secretary, let’s correct it because no human being is perfect. We cannot all be perfect.
“I told him that this is not correctly done. He told me, I’m quoting him verbatim, ‘Honourable Chair, allow us to do our job. This is the way we want to do it. You can oversight us later.’ But I feel that I cannot leave the wrong thing to be done. We can still correct it. That’s why we are insisting that, Honourable Minister, you correct that.
“Maybe in the procedure there are things that are not done. We are not here in the National Assembly to wait for you to make mistakes and then we say you have done wrong. But it is in the procedure. If I want, I can keep quiet. After doing the whole thing, executing it, I can say you are wrong and then you cannot reverse it.
The Minister of Steel Development, Mr. Shuaibu Audu, responding to the questions raised by the committee on Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the original builders of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant, Tyazhpromexport, and their consortium members, Novostal M and Proforce Manufacturing Limited, in September 2024,announced that the long-awaited technical audit of the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited will commence in early February.
He said the technical audit is expected to pave the way for the rehabilitation, completion, and operation of the steel plant and the National Iron Ore Mining Company in Kogi State, Nigeria.
However, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, expressed concerns about the delay in commencing the audit, four months after the MOU was signed.
She said, “We are now approaching the end of January. When will the technical audit start? When will it start? Because to me, I believe we should tackle that project wholesomely. Yes, we need to start with a technical audit so that the buildup of repairs will commence immediately.
“Can you tell us when we would expect the Russians with their partners to commence the technical audit because Time is of the essence; we need a definite commencement date to ensure the project’s revival.”
Replying, the minister said, “I had a conversation with the Permanent Secretary this morning (Wednesday) on the commencement date.”
He then instructed the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Chris Osa-Isokpunwu, to update the panel on the start of the technical audit,
The permanent Secretary, Steel Development, Osa-Isokpunwu, responding to the questions said, “Immediately after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, the ministry commenced the procurement process for the technical and financial audit. Advertisements were made, time was given. The stage we are now in preparation to present it to the Federal Executive Council for approval. Once that presentation is made and the Federal Executive Council approves that project, then the technical audit will start.
“What I would say at this point is that as soon as we get the ‘no objection’ to proceed to the Federal Executive Council by the Bureau of Public Procurement, we will take the memo to the Federal Executive Council. That will be based on the availability of slots for the presentation of memos at FEC. I do not run the Secretariat of FEC.
“However, once the Bureau of Public Procurement issues us the certificate of no objection, within 48 hours after, the Honourable Minister will transmit the memo to the Secretariat of FEC.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan inquired about when the BPP would send the ‘no objection’ to the ministry, to which the Permanent Secretary replied that only the Director General of the BPE, Ayodeji Gbeleyi, could provide an answer.
Akpoti-Uduaghan further enquired, “How long have you been waiting for that ‘no objection’ from BPP? I need to know the timeline. How long has it been? Did you just submit the proposal last week? Or last month? Or two months ago? We need to know. Maybe it’s BPP we are going to hold responsible for delay of process.”
Osa-Isokpunwu responded, “I’m not familiar with the processes of the Bureau of Public Procurement. We submitted our request for ‘no objection’ about two months ago. So Chairman, I don’t know if I can help you.
The minister, in defence of the permanent secretary, attributed the delay to the procurement process and the need for approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). He assured the committee that the ministry would ramp up efforts to obtain the necessary approvals by the end of January.
Audu said, “Mr. Chairman and distinguished members, I think the feedback from the joint committee is loud and clear. The speed at which we are going through the process of getting a ‘no objection’ from BPP is too slow. I think that is the message that I’m hearing from the committee members. The feedback has been heard very loud and clear. I can assure you that I’ll continue to put the permanent secretary under a lot of pressure for us to get out the ‘no objection’.
“Perhaps, the methods and the way we’ve been following up is inadequate. We are going to put more gas to the pedal to ensure that the ‘no objection’ comes out.
“We have a lot more work to do in that regard. The Perm Sec has heard, directors of the ministries have heard very loud and clear that the joint committee on steel is unhappy with the pace at which we are processing the ‘no objection’ from BPP. So I want to appeal to your further patience.
“In the next few days, I can assure you that we’re going to ramp up efforts to at least get out the ‘no objection’. Today is 22nd of January. I believe before the end of the month we will get it. I’ll do everything humanly possible to ensure that it comes out so that we can get these things going. So I want to assure you that I’ll put the ministry under pressure. I’ll continue to put the Permanent Secretary under pressure to ensure that the ‘no objection’ comes out.”
In a related development, the committee summoned the Ministers of Finance and Budget to explain the declining capital budget for the steel sector and called for the establishment of scrap collection centers across Nigeria to boost steel production. The committee declared a state of emergency on scrap collection to safeguard vital government infrastructure.
