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The Federal Government has said revealed that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration will no longer meet up with the earlier promise of completing the Ajaokuta Steel Company in 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite disclosed this on Thursday while addressing State House correspondents during a Special Weekly Briefing in Abuja.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Minister blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war for frustrating the project on several fronts.<\/span><\/p>\n According to him, the federal government had before the pandemic successfully convinced Russia to complete the steel facility but could not proceed with the negotiations due to force-majeure.<\/span><\/p>\n The negotiations involved a $2m fee for a technical audit required to ascertain the state of the facility before works begin.<\/span><\/p>\n Adegbite further explained that the government moved to continue the earlier negotiations with Russia following the lockdown, but progress was stalled again due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n He, however, noted that the federal government would initiate irreversible processes to ensure the resumption and eventual completion of the steel facility beyond the Buhari regime.<\/span><\/p>\n Fielding a question about gold mining in Zamfara State, the Minister said the government had halted mining activities in the area because the conflict went beyond mining.<\/span><\/p>\n On the government\u2019s effort against illegal mining, he said, \u201cwe try to nip them in the bud wherever they rear their head. With the community reporting to us, we have a quick intervention force. We can\u2019t be proactive, it is too expensive to maintain. But we have a quick intervention force.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf we hear any mining happening in any nook and cranny, we move in there and dislodge them. Those that are arrested, we confiscate their equipment and they are prosecuted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Adegbite also revealed that the country has attained self-sufficiency in Barite production and would no longer need imports from October 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Federal Government has said revealed that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration will no longer meet up with…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[65],"class_list":{"0":"post-2752","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"tag-ajaokuta-steel-company"},"yoast_head":"\n