Ajaokuta Steel Mill

Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL) popularly known as Ajaokuta Steel Mill is a steel mill in Nigeria, located in Ajaokuta, Kogi State, Nigeria. Built on a 24,000 hectare site starting in 1979, it is the largest steel mill in Nigeria, and the coke oven and by-products plant are larger than all the refineries in Nigeria combined. However, the project was mismanaged and remains incomplete 40 years later. Three-quarters of the complex have been abandoned, and only the light mills have been put into operation for small-scale fabrication and the production of iron rods.

History
A feasibility study for the production of steel was first awarded to the British, and later undertaken by the Soviet Union under a cooperation agreement with Nigeria. In 1967, Soviet experts recommended prospecting for iron ore in Nigeria, as the known deposits were of poor quality for steelmaking. In 1973, iron ore of the required quality was discovered in Itakpe, Ajabanoko, and Oshokoshoko. The Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited was incorporated in 1979 under President Shehu Shagari who began the project which was 84% completed by the time of his removal from office in 1983. The steel mill reached 98% completion in 1994, with 40 of the 43 plants at the facility having been built.

To supply the Ajaokuta Steel Mill with raw materials and connect it with the world market, in 1987, a contract was awarded to construction company Julius Berger for the construction of Nigeria's first standard gauge railway, from the iron mines at Itakpe to the steel mill at Ajaokuta, and later continuing to the Atlantic Ocean at Warri. However, both projects have been mismanaged. The Ajaokuta Steel Mill is still unfinished four decades after construction began.

In 2002, the Nigerian government under Olusegun Obasanjo concessioned the project to Japanese Kobe Steel in an attempt at revitalization, however without much success. In 2004, the project was again transferred, this time to Ispat Industries. The deal was financed by Global Infrastructure Holdings Limited (GIHL) (now Global Steel Holdings Limited, GSHL), which is chaired by Indian steel magnate Pramod Mittal. The concession ended in 2008 after the government accused GIHL of asset-stripping. GIHL then sued Nigeria at International Chamber of Commerce. The dispute was initially resolved in 2016, with Nigeria regaining control of the Ajaokuta Steel Mill in exchange for GIHL retaining the Nigerian Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) operating at Itakpe. In 2022, the Nigerian government paid $496 million to GSHL to settle the claims.

The Ajaokuta Steel Mill still had not produced a single sheet of steel by December 2017. The light mills were finally put into operation in 2018 for small-scale fabrication and the production of iron rods. However, three-quarters of the plant have been abandoned, including the large-scale equipment and the internal railway.

In 2019, at the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed on a revitalization of the steel mill with Russian support. A taskforce within the Nigerian government was set up with a view to revamping the project with funding from the Afreximbank and the Russian Export Center. However, the COVID pandemic delayed and ultimately thwarted these plans.

In January 2024, the Nigerian government announced that it had commenced discussions with Chinese steel company Luan Steel Holding Group with the aim of reviving the Nigerian steel industry, including the production of military hardware at Ajaokuta Steel Mill.

Railway
The Warri–Itakpe Railway fell into disrepair, and part of the track was vandalised. In 2016, the Nigerian government awarded contracts to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and Julius Berger to repair and complete the railway. Test runs began in November 2018, and the railway was officially inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari on 29 September 2020.

Criticism
According to Nigerian financial planner and economic strategy consultant Kalu Aja, a series of policy failures has prevented the Ajaokuta Steel Mill from being completed and put into operation 40 years after its construction first began. Aja contends that three major requirements must be satisfied before the mill can produce steel: the Nigerian Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) operating at Itakpe must be operational, since Nigerian iron must first be processed before being suitable for steel production; the Itakpe to Ajaokuta railway line must be functional to ensure continued supply; and the blast furnace must be operational. Blast furnaces operate continuously for years at a time without being shut down and thus require a steady supply. Aja concludes, that since none of the three requirements are met, the furnace at Ajaokuta has never been turned on because Ajaokuta has never had raw materials available to ensure continuous production.