…Hails equipment, facilities in the plant.

The Federal Government has raised the hope that the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State will soon restart production.

The Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, who visited the plant on Thursday, expressed satisfaction with the condition of equipment and facilities at the plant despite its shutdown over a decade ago.

Audu said that the consultations and stakeholder engagements are ongoing to resolve the challenges of gas supply to the plant, the tussle of the ownership of ALSCON between BFIG and RUSAL, and the dredging of Imo River.

The Minister stated that President Bola Tinubu intends to ginger the economy and create jobs in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of his administration hence the urgent need to revive ALSCON.

His words, “I think it is very clear that the federal government has invested a significant amount of resources in getting the plant here in the first place.

“The plant started operations in 1997, operated for about two years, went into a stop-gap and then started producing again from 2008 to 2013.

“It is important to note that in terms of job creation opportunities, it can create both direct and indirect jobs to the sum of 20,000. This is very significant.

“The current managers of the plant have invested over 400 million Dollars in the plant. This is very critical to the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President. Mr President wants to grow the Nigerian economy by one trillion dollars in 2030. For that to happen critical plants and national assets need to come back on board.

“As you can see the plant here has been shut down for over a decade and we have massive resources that are wasting away. There is a blueprint for the plant to come back in a few years. However, there are teething issues to resolve.

“As the leader of the steel industry and representative of Mr. President, I am committed to resolving the issues particularly the ownership tussle between the BFI Group and RUSAL. This has to be resolved very quickly.

“There is also the problem of gas supply which has to be dealt with. There is also the issue of the dredging of the Imo River. I have gone around the plant and as a federal government, we will do everything humanly possible to bring the plant on board again”.

The Managing Director of ALSCON, Zavlyalov Dmitriy said that the management of the company was ready to recommence operation when all the impediments are sorted out.

Dmitriy said that despite the shutdown of the plant for over ten years, RUSAL has been maintaining the facilities and equipment at the plant.

He added that RUSAL has been consistent in its community social responsibility by providing overseas scholarships, skills acquisition training and other empowerment programmes to the ALSCON host community.