The Federal Government has moved to investigate why the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited accumulated N33 billion in electricity debt which caused the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to disconnect the company from the national grid.
The Minister of Minister of Steel Development, Shuaibu Audu, gave this position after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.
The TCN announced the decision this week to disconnect the steel company over the debt owed to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC (NBET) and service providers.
The debt is made up of N33,071,002,129.49, comprising N30,849,749,981.01 for energy and capacity delivered by NBET and N2,221,252,148.48 owed to service providers.
Reacting to the development in a chat with correspondents, the minister affirmed that the issue will be clearly looked at to get to the bottom of it.
He wondered why the company would accumulate such debt in electricity consumption when it had not been operating in full capacity.
He said: “I mean these are some of the things that need to be looked into. Like you mentioned. One of the things I spoke to the MD of Ajaokuta today, and this was one of the questions I asked and we’re going to get to the bottom of it, why consumption of so much electricity in a place that is not operating at full capacity.
“Part of what we also need to do is that we’re trying to revive Ajaokuta in a collegiate system, in piecemeal, and so we may not have the capacity to be able to pay all those outstanding amounts immediately.
“Part of what the MD of Ajaokuta told me is that most of the money is in interest payments. And NBET, the electricity company that has disconnected it is also a government agency.”
Noting the role of NBET in the disconnection, Shuaibu hinted that the government will not allow its agency to hinder the effort to revive the steel company, which has not been in operation for about 45 years.
“So, if we as a government ministry, government agency are trying to revive Ajaokuta and working hard to do that, we should not have another hand within the same government making things very difficult for us.
“And so, part of what we plan to do is to sit down on the table in the next few days as quickly as possible to be able to come up with a plan so that they can put it back on the grid and put things back in order.
“Is a gradual process Ajaokuta cannot be revived overnight. This is an institution, this is a plant that has not been working for 45 years, it is a difficult task to try and get it back on track.