TheCable

The house of representatives has dared Kayode Fayemi, minister of mines and steel development, to proceed with the concession of the Ajaokuta steel plant.

On Thursday, Fayemi said the federal government had no plan to spend another dime on the steel plant and that it would go ahead with the concession plan despite opposition from the house of representatives.

Fayemi also accused the lawmakers of “unjustly attacking officials of the ministry”, saying the national assembly approved the concession in 2017.

In an interview with TheCable, Abdulrazak Namdas, spokesman of the house, said the lower legislative chamber will not have anything to do with Fayemi again.

He told TheCable that the vote of no confidence on the minister and Abubakar Bwari, the junior minister, stands.

“He (Fayemi) can go ahead with whatever he thinks he can do without the parliament,” he said.

“If he wishes, whatever he thinks he can do without the parliament, he can go ahead and do what he wants.”

When asked to confirm the minister’s claim that the concession had been approved by the national assembly, the spokesman replied: “Leave that one out. What we should be talking is, if Fayemi believes he can do his job without the parliament, let him go ahead and continue his job.”

He said the minister “ignored” the opportunity he had to tell Nigerians all they need to know about the steel plant at the sectoral debate.

“We are not here to indict anyone. We invited him and all the necessary parties to confirm the information at our disposal, to see where we can move from,” he said, adding: “But since he failed to come, as far as we are concerned, we are taking the statement from the experts that it is 98 percent completed.”