There is direct correlation between steel production and development –Alh. Shaibu Musa

There is direct correlation between steel production and development –Alh. Shaibu Musa

Former Deputy General Manager, (Administration) of Ajaokuta Steel Company, Alh. Shaibu Musa in an interview with The NigReporters said there's a direct relationship between the level of development of any developed nation and the amount of steel it produces. 

According to him, production of steel is the bedrock of industrialization. He said Kogi State is naturally endowed with raw materials such as iron ore, coal, dolomite, marble amongst others.

Shedding light on the steel company, he said the Russian company was given the contract of both Ajaokuta Steel Company and the Itakpe Iron Ore Mining Company and the projects where sucessfully completed and commissioned in 1983 by President Shehu Shagari.

Alh. Shaibu expressed sadness that despite that, Ajaokuta and Itakpe has gulped a very large chunk of Nigeria revenue, they are still generally being described as a failed project.

He said Ajaokuta was supposed to be a project that will serve to provide raw materials for rapid human and economic development in areas such as the construction industry, the manufacturing industry, the automobile industry, shipping industry, among others where steel plays a vital role.

Responding to the question on if he believes Ajaokuta can be resuscitated, he said there's a need for a serious commitment of the President  to the steel project with implementation Monitoring Team, stating further that the reason Ajaokuta Steel Company has not worked is sabotage, corruption and mis management.

Alh shaibu Musa was born in the mid fourties in Alh. Lawal Onukoko's compound, Barikin, Okene. He Started Primary school education in 1952 at the now, Christ The King Nursery/Primary School, Okene. In 1960, he got admission to study in Government College Keffi and later proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria for his University education. In 1973, he was sent to London British Broadcasting Corporation for further training.

Alh. Shaibu Musa worked with the Broadcasting Company of Northern Nigeria now Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria from 1972 to 1980. In 1980 he joined he joined Ajaokuta Steel Company. In 1984 he was with the Kwara Radio as a Director from 1985 to 1990. Between 1990 and 1992, he was appointed by the Federal Government as a Member of the Election Petition Tribunals in Kogi and Kwara States, and later on , in the newly created Abia State. In 1993 he joined the Centre for Management Development CMD and was in active service for fifteen years before he retired.