The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Ajaokuta, Kogi, branch has urged Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi to make case for the revitilisation of the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited.
Mr Abraham Aghadike, Chairman of the branch, made the appeal in Abakaliki during an audience with the governor as part of its facility tour of the state.
Aghadike, an Ebonyi indigene, said that although the company had yet to attain full production, fabrication of spare parts was still being conducted.
“The company has the most equipped and functional workshop in the country.
“It fabricates spare parts for major establishments in Nigeria such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Dangote cement, Dicon Nigeria among others,” he said.
He said that the visit afforded an opportunity for the governor to make case for the company, as a critical stakeholder in the nation’s engineering sector.
“No nation can develop without steel as the company is the country’s flagship toward achieving industrial revolution.
“The company can still provide the steel requirements of the Ebonyi government for its industrialisation policy,” he said.
Aghadike commended the governor for his developmental strides within seven years in office pledging that the branch would support him in his presidential aspirations.
“We are marking our 40 years of inauguration and are optimistic that Umahi can replicate his infrastructural strides at the national level,” he said.
Umahi thanked the branch for the visit and congratulated its chairman for ‘making Ebonyi proud in another land’.
Umahi, represented by his Deputy, Dr Kelechi Igwe, said that the case for the revitilisation of the steel company should not be made by one man but collectively.
“Why would you watch the company lying in waste when you are living in its neighbourhood?
“We see members of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) brandish placards and embark on industrial actions to make government pay attention to their areas of need,” he said.
He, however, thanked the branch for appreciating the state’s government’s infrastructural strides and assured it of continued collaboration.