Photo: Aliko Dangote
By Douglas Maha, Abuja
Nigeria’s most celebrated industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has poured cold water on hopes of reviving the Ajaokuta Steel Complex, bluntly declaring that the long-abandoned project “will not work.”
Speaking with journalists on Tuesday, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery boss said that while no country can truly industrialize without a functioning steel sector, Ajaokuta has been overtaken by global technological advances and decades of mismanagement.
“We can keep deceiving ourselves, we can keep being sentimental about it, but honestly, Ajaokuta will not work. It’s not possible,” he said.
Conceived in 1979 as a symbol of Nigeria’s industrial ambition, Ajaokuta was meant to anchor the country’s transformation into a manufacturing powerhouse. Instead, more than 45 years on, the complex stands as a rusting monument to corruption, shifting political agendas, and wasted billions.
President Bola Tinubu had reignited optimism in January when he approved the restart of the plant’s light steel section after talks with India’s Jindal Steel Group.
The company had promised a $5 billion steel investment in Nigeria at the 2023 G20 Summit in New Delhi. Yet Dangote’s blunt assessment suggests that the project may never live up to its original billing.
His remarks cut to the heart of Africa’s broader dilemma: the continent’s tendency to embrace outdated industrial ventures and cheap imports that erode local capacity.
“We must be careful not to become a dumping ground,” Dangote warned, underscoring the urgent need for fresh, competitive investments rather than clinging to relics of failed ambitions.
Ajaokuta, once imagined as Nigeria’s gateway to industrial greatness, now risks remaining a cautionary tale, a symbol not of promise, but of squandered opportunity.
