Akpoti-Uduaghan, Audu Clash Over Ajaokuta Steel Funding at NASS Budget Defence

A long-simmering debate over the fate of Nigeria’s Ajaokuta Steel Plant burst into the open on Wednesday as Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, and the Minister of Steel Development, Shuaib Audu, engaged in a heated exchange during a joint sitting of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Mines and Steel Development.
The confrontation occurred at the ministry’s 2026 budget defence, where Akpoti-Uduaghan questioned the Federal Government’s commitment to reviving the decades-old steel complex, describing official efforts as heavy on rhetoric but light on results.
Drawing comparisons with other major federal projects, the senator cited the proposed 750-kilometre coastal highway, estimated to cost about ₦15 trillion, to argue that funding constraints could not justify the continued stagnation of Ajaokuta Steel.
“The projected cost of the coastal road is seven times what Ajaokuta Steel requires,” she said. “So what is the government’s real intention in reviving this plant, which has been in a comatose state for years?”
Akpoti-Uduaghan criticised the committees and the ministry for what she described as endless meetings and media engagements that have yielded little tangible progress. She further alleged that during Audu’s three years as minister, discussions around Ajaokuta have remained stuck on debating models and frameworks rather than concrete implementation.
The senator also revisited a 2019 bilateral agreement between Nigeria and Russia, under which about $1.45 billion was reportedly earmarked for the revival of the steel plant. She warned against what she called attempts to mislead the public over the status and substance of the deal.
“We should not lie to Nigerians,” Akpoti-Uduaghan said. “We have people that we are responsible to.”
Her remarks, however, drew a sharp response from the minister.
“We are not lying to Nigerians. I take exception to that,” Audu replied, pushing back firmly against the accusation.
He explained that the agreement with Russia could not be implemented due to international sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation following its invasion of Ukraine, which effectively stalled financial transactions linked to the deal.
“Just to provide clarity, the Russian government and Russian Federation are under severe sanctions in the international financial market. So the transaction cannot move forward,” Audu said. “These are not just mom-and-pop shops. We conducted due diligence all the way to the foreign ministry before signing the international MoU.”
Before the exchange could escalate further, the session was adjourned by the chairman, Senator Patrick Ndubueze (Imo North), cutting short additional questions from Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The Ajaokuta Steel Company, a wholly government-owned enterprise located in Kogi State, was conceived in 1979 as the backbone of Nigeria’s industrialisation drive. Designed as an integrated steel plant, it was expected to make the country self-sufficient in steel production, catalyse manufacturing, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Although most of the core plant structures were constructed, critical external infrastructure—such as rail connections, road networks and reliable port access—was never fully completed or sustained. This has made the movement of raw materials and finished products extremely difficult.
Industry experts argue that Ajaokuta’s failure is not solely a funding problem, but the result of decades of policy inconsistency, shifting strategies, and a lack of sustained political will by successive governments—leaving what was once Nigeria’s most ambitious industrial project perpetually on the brink of revival.