THE DAY DANGOTE FINALLY LAID AJAOKUTA STEEL TO REST
So after 45 years of “promises, projections, and patriotic prayers,” Africa’s richest man just told Nigerians the hard truth: Ajaokuta Steel Company is the industrial equivalent of a Nokia 3310 in the age of iPhones.
Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, has dropped a bombshell on Nigeria’s beloved white elephant project—the Ajaokuta Steel Complex. In an interview with journalists on Tuesday, he bluntly declared that the decades-old dream may never take off, arguing that technology has raced far ahead while Ajaokuta is still struggling to tie its shoelaces.
Dangote didn’t mince words: “Honestly, just between us, Ajaokuta isn’t going to succeed. We can continue to fool ourselves. We can keep being passionate about this. It’s not possible.”
Ouch. After 45 years of committees, consultants, and countless billions poured in, Dangote has essentially told Nigerians that the steel plant is now a relic, suitable only for history books and maybe a museum tour—if it can ever get its gates to open.
The Ajaokuta Integrated Steel Complex was conceived in 1979, back when disco was still fashionable and typewriters were cutting-edge. The idea was grand: a Metallurgical Process Plant, an Engineering Complex, and auxiliary facilities that would make Nigeria a steel powerhouse. Fast forward nearly half a century, and what we have instead is a cautionary tale of corruption, mismanagement, and dust.
Ironically, only in January 2024, President Bola Tinubu had given a green light to restart the light steel section of the plant, buoyed by discussions with India’s Jindal Steel Group. They even pledged $5 billion in a new steel project during the G20 summit in New Delhi. But Dangote has now politely—or maybe not so politely—poured cold water on the optimism.
Still, he didn’t downplay steel’s importance. “There is no nation that you can build without a steel industry,” he admitted, before cautioning Africa to avoid outdated industrial projects and copy-paste economic policies. According to him, the continent is in danger of “importing poverty and exporting jobs” at a time when its population is exploding.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow. For decades, Ajaokuta has been dangled before Nigerians like a mirage in the desert—always just about to happen, always just around the corner. And now, with Dangote’s declaration, the mirage may have finally evaporated.
So perhaps the only steel Ajaokuta will ever produce is the steely patience of Nigerians who’ve waited 45 years for a plant that never grew past its foundation.
