There was a mild drama yesterday as a Senate panel turned down the memorandum of the Ministry of Steel Development on Ajaokuta Steel Company.
The panel described the memorandum as “watery”.
The investigative public hearing was organised by the Senate ad hoc committee on the “alleged incidences of corruption and inefficiency in Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCOL) and National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) and the general state of affairs in the Federal Government owned companies from 2002 till date”.
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The Minister of Steel Development, Mustapha Audu Abubakar, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Chris Osaruwanmwen, made the presentation to the committee was described as “watery” and later stood down.
Chairman of the ad hoc committee, Adeniyi Ayodele Adegbonmire (SAN), wondered how Ajaokuta would ever work when the Ministry of Steel, which directly supervises the project presented only “a two-page watery memorandum” to the Senate committee saddled with the enormous job.