Forty homes were evacuated during a bushfire that broke out in a Melbourne nature reserve on Wednesday, December 27, 2017.
A raging bushfire in Australia
In hot windy conditions the fire quickly got out of control in a nature reserve near a golf club and cemetery in the south-east suburb of Cheltenham, 18 kilometres from the city centre.
More than 70 firefighters, four helicopters and a dozen fire trucks were fighting the flames.
Inspector Bruce Kitchen from Victoria Police told the broadcaster ABC that about 40 houses were evacuated but residents may be able to return to their homes later.
In spite of its enormous benefits, medical personnel believe that some women care less about antenatal clinic attendance.
There are concerns over the high infant and maternal mortality rates in Nigeria
Aisha Usman, 28, and few others share their experiences, attributing the occurrences to ignorance and poverty.
“Each night when I go to sleep, I pray not to wake up, for fear of facing the world with my situation. I was married off at the age of 15 to a man old enough to be my grandfather. The first night in my new home was the worse night of my life; my husband was so hard on me.
“When I realised I was pregnant, I was far gone with the pregnancy, I never attended any antenatal clinic or even visited the hospital because we have a traditional doctor that comes to the house to treat us,” Aisha explained.
Aisha would only pray that she had a new life. Her first encounter with her husband was as rough as anything she could imagine.
“That faithful morning, after the rough night experience with my husband I started bleeding,” she said, recalling how the first wife Hajia Mariam Usman rushed to call the family ‘doctor’.
“When he came, he gave me a mixture of herbal drink and after taking it, I got worse but he insisted I will be fine, so I slept off, when I woke up I was told that I had lost the baby.
“I cried but it couldn’t change anything. Weeks later I took in again and similar thing happened; I lost the baby after 34 weeks.
“I lost another pregnancy at 28 weeks that was when the herbal doctor told me I couldn’t get pregnant again. I was never taken to the hospital throughout these episodes.
‘“Today I am childless except almighty God decides to grant me miracle,” she said.
Data from World Bank shows that early marriage is highly prevalent in Nigeria, especially in the rural than in urban areas. The lowest measures can be observed in the south-eastern part of the country while the highest measures observed in the north eastern and north-western parts of the country.
Another housewife, 22-year-old Zainab Yakubu from Kaura Namoda in Zamfara State, shared her story on how she lost five children to meningitis due to illiteracy and ignorance.
“My husband is in Abuja, I lived with our five children alone in Zamfara, I don’t go out of the house without being accompanied by a male, as I must seek the permission of my husband to go out.
Zamfara, a Sharia state, started the implementation of Sharia law in Nigeria currently and has the highest poverty rate in the country if data from Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative is any standard to apply.
For Zainab Yakubu, her experience was also traumatic.
“I called to inform my husband that the children were sick and he told that he will call his brother.
“By the time the brother came, the children became worse but as soon as he came, he went to get a taxi and took the children to the hospital.
“On getting to the hospital that evening, the doctors confirmed that the children were too weak but that he could commence treatment immediately.
“We lost the first three children that night, Hamina Bashiru was three years old, Suwaiba Bashiru two years old and Adamu Bashiru eight years old.
“The other two Sani Bashiru, two years old and Sakiyna Bashiru, died in the early hours of the morning the following day.
“But before calling my husband, I prepared herbal medicine and gave them, I thought it was malaria because the signs and symptoms were similar although it did not work,” she noted.
Mr Yakubu Muhammad, a farmer in Talata Mafara local government area of Zamfara State who also narrated the story of how he lost his wife, blamed it on poverty and ignorance.
According to him, he lost his wife eight years ago to complication in pregnancy.
“When I first got married to the love of my life, we were so happy together and we never had health problems until she got pregnant.
“She got pregnant three months after we got married; we had a community birth attendant where we lived, so she was always checking on my wife.
“She assured us every time we went to see her that everything was fine and she will only prepare herbal medicines for my wife which she said was routine medicine,” Muhammed said.
A lot of women gave birth to their children successfully with the help of her but Muhammad and his wife were unfortunate.
Muhammad explained that his wife usually bleeds whenever she was pregnant but Sadiya was readily available to calm the situation.
“Every time it happened, I will call the attendant; she never hesitated to answer, she checks her after which she will give the herbs and my wife will become well again.
“At about 2 a.m. in the early hours of the morning, my wife started screaming, she was in pain the baby was coming, I was confused I didn’t know how to help her. I quickly ran to her and she followed me.
“When we got home my wife was so weak, she asked me to stay outside and I obeyed her. After about two hours, the attendant came out holding the baby, it was a baby boy but my wife was dead,” Muhammad said.
Corroborating these occurrences, Dr Mustapha Jibril, Commissioner for Health in Niger State, said Nigeria ranked second where women die from complications of pregnancy.
He admitted that poverty and ignorance play major roles in maternal death.
“A poor person is very unlikely to get education or have money to go to the hospital for antenatal and early child marriage also contribute to high maternal mortality and virginal fistula.
“A lot can be done to improve maternal health in Nigeria just as the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, is doing by revitalising Primary Healthcare system in the country,” he said.
Dr Charles Agugua, a gynecologist with a private hospital in Abuja, also expressed concern that poverty had prevented many women from getting proper and adequate medical attention.
He also identified poverty as a major barrier to human development, noting that high level poverty had limited people’s bid, especially women to have access to quality healthcare.
“More so, Nigeria is reported to have one of the highest occurrences of maternal mortality in the world with figures ranging from 704 to 1,500 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.
Agugua also said the relationship between poverty and maternal mortality called for the need to address the reproductive health problem in the country.
He called for focused strategy that would enable pregnant women with complications have access to the medical interventions of emergency obstetrical care.
The expert also called for the upgrading of rural health centers and referral hospitals and stocked them with the necessary drugs and equipment to boost their effort in carrying out obstetrical services.
He also stressed the need to train health workers and develop strong referral systems between communities and health care facilities to check delays in cases that posed threat to life.
He advised government to establish supportive policies that would help the system work better and faster.
Available reports indicate that more than 70 per cent of maternal deaths in Nigeria are due to five major complications: haemorrhage, infection, unsafe abortion, hypertensive disease of pregnancy and obstructed labour.
Also, poor access to and utilisation of quality reproductive health services contribute significantly to the high maternal mortality level in Nigeria.
Figures based on the results of the 1999 Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey show a wide variation from 166 per 100,000 live births in the south-western part of the country to 1,549 per 100,000 live births in the north-eastern part, with a national average of 704 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Nevertheless, stakeholders insist that strategies need to be more appropriately focused to enable pregnant women to have access to emergency obstetrical care.
According to them, appropriate authorities ought to train cadres of health workers and develop strong referral systems between communities and health care facilities, since delays in care can be life-threatening.
They recommend that there is need for skilled attendants to be well remunerated in order to improve performance and efficiency.
They also note that Ministries of Health has roles to play in strengthening its health care systems and addressing inequality.
They, therefore, plead with governments to improve the health sector, especially maternal health, without which many pregnant women will continue to face the problem of access to healthcare that may increase the prevalence of maternal mortality.
By Jessica Onyegbula, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved an international conference in Nigeria on saving the Lake Chad and revitalise its basin’s ecosystem for sustainable livelihood, security and development.
Scientists say the Lake Chad, that borders Nigeria and some other countries, has shrunken by 95 percent over the past 50 years. They have also linked the Boko Haram insurgency to the lake’s situation. Photo credit: AP/Christophe Ena
Malam Garba Shehu, the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, made this known in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, December 26, 2017.
Shehu said that conference would be the first international forum on Lake Chad organised by the six-member countries of the basin’s region.
“The three-day conference will consist of two days of technical sessions and one-day high level meetings between Feb. 26, 2018 and Feb. 28, 2018 and it will take place in Abuja,” he said.
The presidential aide said that the high level meeting would have in attendance all of the Presidents and Heads of Government of the Lake Chad Basin member-states.
The member-states are Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Libya.
He said that “key partners” collaborating to host the conference were Nigeria, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Lake Chad Basin Commission and relevant donors.
Other partners, according to Shehu, are the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank and the governments of Germany, China, Canada and the European Union (EU).
He said the main objective of the conference was to create global awareness on the socio-economic and environmental challenges arising from the shrinkage of Lake Chad.
He explained that the challenges included the threat to livelihoods, especially insecurity, with a view to developing a comprehensive programme for action to save the lake from extinction.
“Specifically, the conference is expected to discuss and develop consensus on the different options to restore Lake Chad, including the Inter-Basin Water Transfer project from the Ubangi River in Central Africa to the Lake Chad.
“Experts, researchers and resource persons are expected to exchange knowledge and share information on water resources development and management in a crisis environment.
“It is also to garner political and financial support for the restoration option identified for the restoration of the lake,” Shehu added.
He revealed that among expected outcome of the conference was a roadmap for the implementation of its recommendations “that should lead to the restoration of the lake and restoration of fishing and irrigated farming”.
According to him, this will alleviate poverty, strengthen climate resilience in the basin, create employment, lead to reduction of terrorist activities and increase the revenue of the population and Lake Chad basin countries.
The lake Chad Basin, which is shared by Algeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Niger, Nigeria and the Sudan, is about eight per cent of the size of the African continent, with a population of about 40 million inhabitants.
Its surface area has shrunk from 25,000 square kilometers to 2,500 square kilometres, roughly 10 per cent of its original size.
This development has adversely affected the economic, social and cultural environment of the area. As at today, the lake is a source of insecurity, instability and the loss of livelihoods.
The presidential aide observed that since coming to office, Buhari had used every available opportunity at the international level to raise awareness of the need for action to save the Lake Chad.
Green Climate Fund (GCF) consultations in the Caribbean have found a recent spate of destructive hurricanes is adding urgency to regional efforts enhancing climate resilience.
Deliberations at one of the GCF Caribbean meetings
Recent meetings with GCF partners in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Barbados, Grenada and Haiti have shown that progress is being made across weather-beaten Caribbean countries to coordinate their activities in addressing climate change.
This includes the further development of the Regional Proposal for Caribbean Management of Climate and Disaster Risks, a key outcome of the GCF Structured Dialogue focusing on the Caribbean held in Belize in June, 2017.
This regional proposal, led by Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda, is tapping GCF resources to enhance climate resilience across the region. This includes increasing the coherence of climate action by different Caribbean countries across various agencies and key sectors.
During the 10-day series of meetings which wrapped up on Tuesday, December 19, 2017, GCF staff spoke to a broad range of Caribbean partners, including Accredited Entities, National Designated Authorities and private sector leaders.
Wild weather, including hurricanes Irma and Maria, that smashed into numerous Caribbean countries in September caused deaths, crippled economies and exacerbated fears among many Caribbean citizens of future climate-induced storms and encroaching seas.
In Grenada, Fitzroy James, Director of Economic & Technical Cooperation in the country’s Ministry of Economic Development, Planning and Trade, said increasing climate change concerns by Caribbean people accentuates the need to focus on boosting resilience at all levels.
“We need to build resilience to climate change at different levels – individual, community, national and regional – to take and influence actions to adapt to climate change,” he said. Mr James also highlighted the opportunities during post-disaster rebuilding of introducing low-emission infrastructure, such as renewable energy and energy efficiency interventions.
Hailing GCF’s country-led approach to climate finance, Mr James said it was necessary to “ensure that local climate action investments are driven by country priorities and are country driven.”
A key theme of the GCF talks was the need to ensure finance reaches the grassroots to support mitigation and adaptation, including locally-based climate resilient projects.
Timothy Payne, the head of a local environmental organiaation in Antigua and Barbuda, said “funding is one of our major challenges.” The Barnes Hill Community Development Association, which Mr Payne leads, is building local water resilience in the face of more unpredictable rainfall patterns.
The GCF consultations follow the launch of a public-private Caribbean Climate-Smart Coalition earlier in December aimed at ensuring post-disaster rebuilding includes financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
GCF has committed to help this initiative under the strategic leadership of Grenada, which is promoting the establishment of the world’s first climate-smart zone. GCF assistance includes supporting long-term, transformative investments in the Caribbean and for capacity building and pre-feasibility studies for the proposed First Climate Resilient-Smart City in the Grenadian capital of St. George’s.
In addition to $102 million in approved GCF funding for the Caribbean, regional projects in the GCF pipeline for funding consideration amount to more than $500 million.
Ayaan Adam, Director of GCF’s Private Sector Facility and GCF delegation head, said the Caribbean meetings will help push forward climate finance plans in the region into proposals that GCF can implement in 2018. She said there was strong potential to support a number or areas, including climate information services and early warning systems, increased resilience, ecosystems, smart cities and low-carbon solutions.
“We have been encouraged by the enthusiasm of the Caribbean public and private sectors and civil society to come together and respond positively to the destructive forces of climate change,” Ms Adam added.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted dust haze weather conditions in horizontal visibility range of one to three kilometres over the central states of the county on Wednesday, December 27, 2017.
Dust haze weather
NiMet’s Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office in Abuja on Tuesday also predicted day and night temperatures in the range of 24 to 33 and 10 to 21 degrees celsius.
It further predicted localised visibility of less than 1000m over few cities in the region throughout the forecast period.
The agency predicted that the Southern States would experience dust haze conditions with horizontal visibility range of one to three kilometres during the forecast period.
It also predicted localised visibility of less than 1000m inland cities with day and night temperatures in the range of 30 to 33 and 15 to 21 degrees celsius.
According to NiMet, Northern states will experience thick dust haze in reduced horizontal visibility with day and night temperatures of 24 to 30 and 11 to 17 degrees celsius.
“There are indications for further deterioration in visibility over the country with thick dust haze conditions anticipated over the Northern states.
“The central cities down to the south are expected to be in dust haze condition with horizontal visibility range of one to three kilometres and localised visibility of less than 1000m.”
By most accounts, Nigeria has been facing serious sanitation challenges, even after almost 60 years of political independence.
Dr. Lawrence Anukam, Director-General, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Agency (NESREA)
Sanitation experts moan that many cities and towns across the country are still having serious waste management problems, while some communities have yet to be free from the menace of open defecation.
They call for increased investments to rectify the situation but observe that the lack of a single entity with complete responsibility for sanitation within the government, as well as widespread corruption and lack of community support may, perhaps, hamper efforts.
The Nigerian Water and Sanitation Programme estimates that the Nigeria’s poor sanitation costs the country at least $3 billion each year, in terms of loss of productivity and health care expenditures.
However, Dr Lawrence Anukam, the Director-General of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), underscores the need to improve hygiene awareness, particularly in local communities across the country.
He says that improved sanitation is crucial in efforts to improve and protect the health and well-being of the citizens.
“Sanitation is a system that promotes disposal of human and animal wastes, as well as proper use of facilities such as toilet, bathroom and kitchen, among others, while avoiding open space defecation,’’ he says.
Anukam emphasises one of the strategies that can ensure effective environmental sanitation across the country is the implementation of the Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) project.
He says that the ISWM project is a comprehensive waste management, recycling, compositing and disposal project, which will fast-track the sanitation of the environment, if properly managed.
He says that government is working assiduously towards implementing the ISWM project, which involves strong collaboration among various government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and relevant international organisations.
Anukam stresses that poor sanitation could cause the development of terminal diseases and malnutrition through faecal contamination of food and water.
The director-general said that while these are immediate threats that require intense focus, sanitation essentially requires long-term investments that will help Nigeria to grow.
He calls on Nigerians to promote environmental sanitation to boost the country’s economic development and the health of its citizens.
Mr Williams Osaze, the President of Society for the Promotion of People’s Rights, an NGO, urges the government to collaborate with relevant national and international organisations in efforts to promote effective environmental sanitation.
According to him, if the government can partner with relevant stakeholders, such collaboration will promote environmental sanitation.
“Different views, ideas and contributions from such experts will improve the environmental sanitation in the country.
“Government can also work together with some of the international organisations in efforts to upgrade environmental sanitation in the country.
“The approach will go a long way to promote hygiene and sanitation in the country.
“Sustainability and implementation of environmental projects will also address the challenge of inefficiency of environmental sanitation programmes,’’ he says.
All the same, Mr Dominic Abonyi, Registrar, Environmental Health Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON), identifies hospital waste as another environmental challenge that could provoke the outbreak of serious diseases in neighbourhoods.
He advises the hospital management bodies to ensure that the wastes that are generated within the hospital premises are properly disposed of in ways that are devoid of potential health hazards.
Abonyi says that poor sanitation has wreaked a lot of havoc in several communities across the country, adding that relevant organisations ought to collaborate to tackle the menace of poor environmental sanitation.
Besides, Mr Yomi Awoniyi, Country Manager, Bio-Power Environmental Solutions Ltd., says that the construction of high-quality toilets with effective sanitation facilities will make the toilets sustainable, while supporting healthier environment in the society.
He stresses that the challenge of using toilet without adequate water to clean the toilets has been frustrating plans to attain good hygiene in neighbourhoods across the country.
He notes that most toilets are being operated without water, adding that the development could trigger the onset of diseases, while tainting the environment.
Awoniyi says his organisation is striving to address the problem by introducing a new Flush-Tech Sanitation System, whereby a fixed quantity of water is recycled through a process to ensure the availability of water in toilets at all times.
He says that Bio-Power Environmental Solutions Ltd. is also committed to creating strong community awareness on the importance of keeping the toilets and the surroundings tidy.
He says that the essence of the public awareness activity is to sensitise the people to the dangers of using dirty toilets and living in unhygienic environment.
“We are committed to advocating change and connecting the society to knowledge and experience so as to help people to build a better life,’’ he adds.
Mrs Swadchet Sankey, UNICEF Education Specialist, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
She frowned at the popular attribution of brain development or quality of child’s brain, intellectual capacity to genetic factors or parental genes.
Sankey emphasised that the kind of environment a child grew or is nurtured would to a large extent affect the quality of his/her brain irrespective of the intellectual capacity of the parents.
She explained that a child’s brain develop in response to both genes and the environment, describing the process of early brain development as constantly modified by environmental influences.
The specialist further emphasised that the environment of a child’s earliest years could have lifetime effect on him/her.
“Though biology and environment are key to brain development but the formal is more critical because no matter the quality of parental gene if the environment is unhealthy it will impact negatively on their brain.
“Nurturing environments contribute to positive health outcomes and fewer developmental challenges. When poverty set in its impact on environment poses a threat to individual’s growth and development,” Sankey said.
She identified the period of child’s brain development as ranging from age zero to three years, describing the period as critical.
According to her, if you can have a child that has inherited good brain, good intelligent but malnourished, sick and lack the opportunity of early learning, nurturing care, stimulation, such child’s brain development will be hampered.
“A stable environment is the one that is sensitive to health and nutritional needs of the children. So any environment that is not sensitive to health and nutrition of children is not a complete environment that allows development to occur.
“Any environment that does not protect children, that does not make them to be save, does not protect them from toxic stress like children in an environment of conflict will affect the quality of their brain.
“Children that are in an environment where there is crisis, pollution among others will not be intelligent no matter the gene of their parents,” she said.
“Early childhood development is a whole package that deals with environment and the child, the kind of environment they are exposed to whether at home or outside goes a long way to affect the child’s development,” she added.
The specialist urged parents and caregivers to be conscious of the kind of environment they groom their children, ward in order to better their lots and impact positively in the development of the nation.
The Rivers State Government and Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the distribution of gas to industries in the Greater Port Harcourt area and its environs. The MoU sets out broad terms and conditions to guide co-operation between the two parties in the development of new gas distribution opportunities in the Greater Port Harcourt area and its environs in addition to its existing gas distribution network in the state.
Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Gas, Ed Ubong (left), exchanging a signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Richard Hart, for industrial gas supply to Port Harcourt
“The agreement is key in the efforts of the government to boost industrialization in Rivers State,” said Richard Hart, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, who signed for the government. “We believe that the agreed terms in the MoU will lead to the signing of the ‘Build-Operate-Own-and Transfer’ (BOOT) agreement early next year so businesses can begin to reap the benefits of a steady source of energy.”
SNG Managing Director, Ed Ubong, who signed for the company, said the partnership was an opportunity to further promote gas as a more reliable, cleaner and cost-effective alternative to liquid fuels in the Niger Delta.
He said: “Gas is the key to boosting industrialisation. It is no coincidence that states that currently do well on internal revenue generation have also encouraged the use of gas to boost industrial output, which in turn provides employment and improved livelihood. SNG is grateful to the Rivers State Government for the foresight and co-operation in the signing of the MoU, and will reciprocate the gesture by taking every step to fulfill its obligations in the agreement.”
Commenting on the significance of the MoU, Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, reiterated the leadership role of Shell in the domestic gas market.
He added: “For more than 50 years, Shell has been in the forefront of the campaign to develop and monetise Nigeria’s huge resources and it is good to see SNG continuing in the tradition to grow the domestic gas market and also help to improve lives and earnings in Rivers State.”
SNG was incorporated in 1998 as a 100% Shell-owned company, the first and so far, only wholly-owned subsidiary of an international oil company involved in domestic gas distribution in Nigeria. It operates a gas transmission and distribution network of approximately 120 kilometres that distributes natural gas to industrial and commercial customers, majority of which are located in Ogun, Abia and Rivers states. SNG facility is also ISO 14001 certified, the only gas distribution company in Nigeria that has attained this safety milestone.
The steel industry is said to be the backbone of any nation.
The industry will continue to serve as stimulus to national development and economic boaster to industrial growth of a country.
Ajaokuta Steel Project is located on 24,000 hectares of sprawling green-field land-mass. The Steel Plant itself is built on 800-hectares of land
The Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi State of Nigeria was envisaged to serve as the bedrock of the nation’s industrialisation.
The idea of having a steel industry was conceived in 1958 by the Federal Government and preliminary market studies were carried out and studies were initially directed towards the feasibility of establishing Rolling Mills.
However, because of the growing awareness of the availability of iron ore in Agbaja, Udi and other areas of the country, emphasis later shifted to establishing an integrated steel plant.
Late Sir Abubarka Tafawa Balewa and late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe between 1960 and 1966 invited and recieved proposals from foreign firms, including those from UK, U.S., Germany and Canada, most of these being on the feasibility of establishing steel complexes.
The efforts of the government did not yield significant positive result because they were based on the use of iron deposits in Agbaja and Udi which were later found to be unsuitable for Direct Reduction.
In 1967, a team of Soviet experts arrived in Nigeria to conduct a feasibility study on the establishment of an iron and steel plant, as a follow-up on a technical/economic cooperation agreement between the Governments of Nigeria and the USSR.
In their report, they recommended the use of Blast Furnace process of iron making. The report also pointed out that the known iron ore deposits in the country were of poor quality and recommended that further geological surveys be conducted to see if better ore could be found.
In 1968, Soviet geological experts came to Nigeria and after a general geological investigation reported that there were high prospects for richer iron ore and coal deposits in the country.
However, the Federal Government signed a contract in 1970 with TyazhPromExport (TPE), a Russian company, under which they agreed to provide specialised equipment to carry out further geological survey to determine the quantity of the deposits of iron ore, coal resources in the country that could be used for the proposed iron and steel industry.
By 1973, suitable iron ore deposit was discovered in Itakpe, Ajabanoko and OShokoshoko all in the region around the Kabba-Okene-Lokoja-Koton Karfe axis, now in Kogi State.
The TPE was contracted to prepare the Preliminary Project Report for the proposed iron and steel industry in Nigeria.
In 1975, during the reign of Murtala Mohammed, the preliminary project report specifying the raw materials base at Itakpe in Kogi plant site location (Ajaokuta), 1st phase production volume (1.3 mmt), process route (Blast Furnace -Basic Oxygen Furnace), Product form (Long products) submitted by TPE was reviewed, discussed and accepted.
TPE was subsequently commissioned to prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) on Ajaokuta which was completed and submitted in 1977.
In 1979, Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL)/NIOMCO, and Delta Steel Company (DSC), among others, were established under Section 2 of National Steel Council Decree No. 60 of Sept. 19, 1979 and incorporated as Limited Liability Companies.
In 1980, former President Shehu Shagari laid the foundation stone of an integrated steel plant in Ajaokuta on 24,000 hectares of sprawling green-field landmass, built on 800-hectares.
The steel company has four different types of rolling mills inside the plant, such as the Billet Mill which produces billets; the Light Section Mill which produces round, square, strip and angles metals.
The Wire Rod Mill, which produces wire rods and rebars used in construction companies and production of nails, fencing wire, rope mesh, bolts and nut and netting and the Medium Section and Structural Mill produces parallel flange channels, equal angles, unequal angles and standard channels.
The four rolling mills are bigger than Aladja, Osogbo, Katsina and Jos rolling mills put together while the coke oven and bye products plant is bigger than all the four refineries in Nigeria put together.
In 1980 to 1983, the administration achieved 84 per cent of Ajaokuta steel plant as the Light Section Mill of the plant was commissioned earlier than the scheduled date, while the Wire Rod Mill was also commissioned in April 1984, earlier than the scheduled month of December.
In 1994, equipment erection work at Ajaokuta Steel Plant reached 98 per cent completion.
With all these achievements, it was, however, sad that the gigantic steel plant idea conceived and executed by past leaders had failed to contribute to the development of Nigeria.
The Ajaokuta Steel that had reached 98 per cent completion as far back as 1994 has not produced a single steel till date.
The integrated plant was envisaged to have multiplier effects on all sectors of the Nigerian economy such as the industrial, agriculture, transport and construction sectors, among others.
The steel plant was designed to produce 1.3 million tonnes of liquid steel per annum in its phase one, with a built-in capacity to expand its production to 2.6 million tonnes of flat iron and steel products in its second phase and phase three plan was planned to produce 5.2 million tonnes of various types of steel products, including heavy plates.
The steel plant complex also has highly sophisticated assemblage of 43 different plants made up of a web of complex iron, cable and machinery of different sizes and functions.
Out of the 43 plants, 40 are already completed and can produce independently.
Ajaokuta steel has the capacity to become a major producer of industrial machineries, auto-electrical spare-parts, shipbuilding, railways and carriages.
The steel plant’s first phase has the capacity to provide direct employment for 10,000 technical staff and indirect 500,000 for unskilled upstream and downstream employment if it is in operation.
The Federal Government had spent over $10 billion over 34 years and would require another $2 billion to complete the remaining two per cent of the plant.
South Korea, which started its steel construction around the same time with Ajaokuta steel now has a revenue base of over N60 billion dollars per annum and employed over 65,000 staff.
Ajaokuta steel would have done better if it had started production.
According to World Steel Association (WSA) report, South Africa and Egypt produced 6.1 and 5.0 million tonnes of steel in 2016, while South Africa is the 22nd on the list of countries on steel production, Egypt is the 27th.
China, the world’s largest steel producer topped the chart with a production of 808.4 million tonnes representing about 50 per cent of global steel output for 2016, as Japan and India produced 104.8 and 95.6 million tonnes of crude steel to maintain the second and third position on the list.
Virtually all the nations that are playing big globally have enhanced capacities for steel production.
Even those that do not have any of the key mineral inputs needed for steelmaking had over the years developed the capacity to produce steel.
Japan and South Korea, for instance, have no mineral resource for iron and steel, but they rank among the world top 10 countries in steel production.
Nigeria that is blessed with raw materials such as iron ore, coal, natural gas and limestones needed for the manufacture of steel is still struggling with what to do with the dormant plant.
In June 2003, former President Olusegun Obasanjo conceded Ajaokuta steel to Messrs Solgas Energy of USA on a 10-year tenure; in August 2004, the Federal Government terminated the Solgas Agreement due to non-performance.
In 2004 and 2005, the Obasanjo administration, again, granted another concession to Global Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (GINL) an India company for the operation of Ajaokuta Steel and the Nigeria Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) at Itakpe in Kogi.
However, the Indian company did not live up to Federal Government’s expectation in managing the two companies.
Consequently, the late Umaru Yar’Adua administration was compelled to revoke the contract in April 2008 without meeting the requirements of the clauses built into the agreement.
The Indian company thereafter took Nigerian government to arbitration court in London, which also crippled the two firms.
In 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari fulfilled his campaign promise on Ajaokuta Steel by settling the legal bottleneck surrounding the companies out of court.
However, the Federal Government signed modified concession agreement with GINL to enable the firm to retain the National Iron Ore Mining Company, Itakpe.
The modified seven-year concession agreement was signed on Aug. 1, 2016, while the Federal Government took over the Ajaokuta Steel.
While the Federal Government was planning to reconcession Ajaokuta Steel again, stakeholders in the Nigerian Metallurgical Society urged it to complete the remaining two per cent and operate the plant for few years before concessioning it.
The stakeholders also urged government to provide clear and articulated plan for the development and growth of metal production sector as the struggle for functional steel company in Nigeria continued.
By Francisca Oluyole, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
The Chief Executive Officer, Raymos Guanah Farms, Mr Raymos Guanah, has lauded the Federal Government’s policies on agriculture.
Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh
Guanah gave this commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, December 26, 2017 in Asaba, Delta State.
“I am impressed with the Federal Government’s policies on agriculture, the policies give farmers the hope that at last, government is matching action with words,” he said.
Guanah, a former Commissioner for Lands and Survey in Delta, however, decried the poor budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector in the country.
According to him, the allocation for agriculture in the nation’s budget is always too low and it is likely to affect the implementation of the government’s agriculture policy.
On the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers programme, Guanah said, “It is the best thing that has happened to farmers in Nigeria.
“It has made it possible for farmers to have access to farm inputs and pay after harvest”.
He recalled that the programme, which was inaugurated in March, had impacted positively on the lives of farmers in the state.
The former commissioner said the inputs supplied at the inauguration included, rice seedlings, fertiliser and other chemicals, adding that the farmers were expected to repay after harvest.
