Ukraine has a special place in Nigeria – and this is where I want to turn to next. The Ajaokuta Steel Mill was built by Ukraine (on behalf of the USSR) but over 97 percent of all those who came to Nigeria to build it were Ukranians. They cheated us. The plant was never finished and we have had no value for the money spent. Billions of dollars were paid to the Ukranians either in cash or by investible and discountable Nigeria papers, (bonds) and other derivatives.
The saga of the Nigerian papers in the hands of the USSR and Ukranians gave Nigeria a bad name and reputation as unreliable borrowers. Every considerable crook in Europe and the banks thereof, backed by a battery of lawyers and investment consultants, made millions out of the Nigerian papers, which changed hands so rapidly that no magician could compete with the sleight of hands about the Nigerian papers. That episode has become famous in chasing and buying Nigerian papers at rates which the CBN could not reclaim or follow. The papers made the world financial history when some people owed for something else instituted a writ of certiorari to get hold of the papers. This is the origin of all the loot reputed to have been stolen by Nigeria since 1976.
In 1979 Nigeria was well on its way to industrialization: the LNG contracts had been signed, the petrochemical contracts in Port Harcourt and Warri were coming on line, the four petroleum refineries were all working, major public works were ongoing and public housing, barracks buildings were all moving towards completion. Six new ports had been completed; the Indians, then the Chinese were to fix the railways.
In 1977 Nigeria had hosted the world to the only black arts extravaganza; the National Theatre was up, so was the trade exhibition centre. The naira was strong and we needed a policy of steady-as-you-go. Nigeria had cement factories in at least 6 states, and brick-making factories in 12 states to help in construction of affordable housing. There was food security and contracts worth several billions had been given to build silos and warehouses for food preservation. The textile industry in Nigeria was the most vibrant in the world. But all these were dependent on steel infrastructure that would underpin the foundation of an industrial take-off. This is why Ajaokuta was and is still important.
The Shagari government took off in 1979 and admittedly had the lukewarm attitude of a new civilian government trying to find its feet. The tenders for Ajaokuta Steel were already in before 1979 but the outgoing military government felt it was better to leave the biggest contract ever signed by Nigeria to the civilian government. There was no end to political lobbyists claiming that they ought to be compensated because they had funded the NPN. The stalwarts of that party lined up to receive their rewards. The Ajaokuta contract was awarded to three contractors who had heavy political backing. The complex had a battery of consultants and from then till 2000 the contractors made millions from the contract – scandal followed scandal. Even so, Shagari went for re-election in 1983 and won handsomely. The cabinet that Shagari was trying to put together in 1983 would have been the best ever assembled in Nigeria.
The aluminium smelting plant was up and running; the newspaper plant was drawing towards successful production; the tyre-making industries (Dunlop, Michelin) were all in full production. Nigeria Airways was one of the largest airlines with 31 planes flying to all parts of the world; the Nigerian Shipping Line had 21 ships in its fleet with a purchase order of another 19 from Korea. The failure of Ajaokuta put an end to all of this and Buhari had no plans to keep Nigeria industrialized. Even if he did, he had a no-tolerance policy to corruption until Nigerians found that his disciplinarian outlook did not extend to the Emir who returned with 53 suitcases.
Let me retract. My problem is not with Buhari but with the Ukrainians and Russians who cheated us of millions of dollars over Ajoakuta. We lost the opportunity to have developed into an industrialized state because with the failure of Ajoakuta, all the carefully constructed consequences of Ajoakuta collapsed.
In December 1983, Idiagbon and Buhari struck. No military coup had even been greeted with less enthusiasm than that coup. But the coupists seemed to have an agenda for discipline which obviously the NPN government did not have. It did not take long before IBB in 1985 ousted Buhari for the draconian laws that he instated in Nigeria. But that is all long way from Ajaokuta. All the major contractors of Ajaokuta spent long spell in prison under Buhari: not one penny was recovered. Instead, Ajaokuta continued unabated and new classifications were devised for it. Meanwhile, money left Nigeria as water through a sieve.
The steel plant in Ajaokuta was the kingpin to have pushed this country into industrialization. It was part of a grand steel making project, supported by six steel direct reduction plants, buttressed by a machine tools factory at Oshogbo. Nigeria was buying steel billets from all over the world – bring them to Aladja and such other steel plants. If cement was the defining element in the fall of General Gowon, steel was the defining moment in the failure of all economic plans since 1976.
Ajaokuta was to have encouraged surface mining of coal, hence its location in Kogi. Nigeria was to import iron ore from mountains of the stuff from Liberia; sulphur from Cote d’Ivoire. A broad modern railway was to run (built by Julius Berger) from Ajaokuta to ports in Warri, Burutu, Sapele, etc. The railway remains unfinished.
Just sit back and consider the waste and loss since Ajaokuta. The last phase of the plant was to build flat steel which we needed for the 5 motor assembly plants we had in conjunction with Peugeot, Fiat, Styer, Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz. Forty years of loss, waste, pillaging and theft! Can anybody do the account and sums today? This is Ukraine’s legacy to Nigeria. I think somebody ought to look into this and start making claims on Russia and Ukraine.
Finally, Mital bought the Ajaokuta plant. He was chased out of Nigeria because he could not meet the demands of officials and thousands of people being owed by Ajaokuta Steel. If Nigeria had invited Mital and asked him to pay a penny for Ajaokuta, provided he could revive it, perhaps today Kogi and Nigeria would be a different place.
Patrick Dele Cole
