Mohammed Sada, the minister of mines and steel development, has revealed that the Federal Government has perfected plans to sell the multi-billion naira Delta Steel Company to an automobile firm.
The minister stated this on Tuesday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power, Mines and Steel to defend his ministry’s 2015 budget. According to him, the Federal Government will sell the steel company through the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).
Sada disclosed that though the ministry was not involved in the sale, it was in close partnership with AMCON. Sada recalled that the company had been in the hands of a private investor but was retrieved by AMCON and is now set to be sold to another investor who is interested in the automobile industry.
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“AMCON is in the process of selling it and I am aware there are quite several people that have written letters of intent that they are interested. What interests us in the ministry is that those interested are people that are interested in automobile development. “We believe in the system now that someone who has interest in developing a value chain around the company is showing interest in buying it. “We have no role to play, by the way, they are consulting us as experts in the industry and we have had several meetings with them to guide them.
“The last time I had a meeting with the MD of AMCON he assured me that in the next couple of weeks, they are going to have somebody they are discussing to sell it over”, he stated. The minister, while clarifying issues relating to fears of future claims to the steel company by any other private investor, said that all pending issues have been resolved. He explained that AMCON had allowed the initial company to pay back the loan but the company was unable to do so and the grace period had long lapsed. He said, “There were no previous claims, Delta Steel was a privately owned company, the company took loans from the local banks, and by Nigerian law, AMCON was put in place to make sure that banks do not fail.”
