The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Awka branch has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the ailing Ajaokuta Steel Complex.
Chairman of the branch, Mr Edmond Nkalu made the call in Awka, last Monday at the commencement of the 2018 engineering year of the branch.
Nkalu said the moribund state of the project was responsible for the slow pace of the country’s economic and infrastructure development.
He decried the huge amount of money lost in foreign exchange on importation of substitutes.
“A visit to Ajaokuta will make you shudder for what is going on in this country; the massive investment that Nigerian government has invested in that project is turning to national waste.
“As a matter of urgency, we are calling on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency for revival of that steel mill.
“If Ajaokuta is revived today, Nigeria will no longer depend on oil because we will be servicing the West African sub -regional market and even the entire African continent.
“It will create millions of jobs, reduce tension and save our foreign exchange,” he said.
Nkalu called for engagement of more indigenous engineers in execution of engineering works in the country, lamenting that expatriates had been allowed to take over their jobs.
He said: “Engineering professionals in this country have not been maximally utilised; we thank God on the presidential order of President Muhammadu Buhari which says that indigenous engineers should be given priority by MDAs.
“We need more involvement of Nigerian engineers in national development; the expatriates that flood this country are not more qualified than our indigenous engineers, what we lack is the opportunity to prove it.
“We are worried that quacks are allowed to take over the job of professionals in the name of expatriates; this is part of the factors that is retarding the wheel of national progress.”
Also, Commissioner for Environment and Ecology in Anambra, Dr Ifeanyi Ejikeme, also spoke of the need to revive the comatose multi-billion naira project.
Ejikeme commended the renewed interest of the National Assembly to revive the mill.
“The Ajaokuta project is an oversight by the leaders of this country, if we had come up with a real solution to the challenges, Nigeria will have been ahead of most countries in the world.
“For the fact that we do not have a square peg in a square hole, things are going bad, if we put the right people in the right places, things will work.
“So much was sunk there; I worked there as a technician in 1982, it is painful that it is in a moribund state, declaration of state of emergency is the right thing to do there.
“I thank God for the members of House of Representatives who visited there, I am hopeful that if they can genuinely pursue that part, Ajaokuta will come up again,” he said.
He lauded Nigerian engineers for their contributions to development of the country and called for their engagement in the nation’s projects.

Corlins Walter