Yesterday, during the budget defense session of the Ministry of Steel Development, things got heated when Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central) and Patrick Ndubueze, the Chairman of the Senate Committee overseeing the ministry, got into a fight after almost four hours of discussion.
According to Channels TV, things got hot during the session, which was mostly about the Ajaokuta Steel Company and a few Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed by the ministry. This was because committee members kept asking questions for a long time.
Things got bad when Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan kept asking questions after hours of questioning, pushing ministry staff for more information.
Senator Ndubueze moved to end the session while the talks went on, saying that the Kogi Central legislator had talked at length and that he wanted to finish the proceedings.
Akpoti-Uduaghan strongly disagreed with the judgment, which led to a brief but emotional standoff between the two lawmakers.
The chairperson, on the other hand, said she could save her inquiries for the investigation hearing before banging the gavel.
The Kogi senator said, “I think you have disrespected me more than enough” in that short minute. No, no, no. You can’t do this to me. You can’t. Let me talk now that you’ve said enough.
“I need to talk to the minister about something really important, and it doesn’t matter if I’ve talked to him once or twice. This is a session where you can engage with others. And you agree that we haven’t met with the minister enough. As a committee, we don’t know where we’re going to meet next.
The chairman said that he had treated her with full respect.
There was a lot of focus on how well the 2024 budget was working and ideas for the 2025 budget during the session. There was also a lot of criticism of how the ministry handled the Ajaokuta Steel Company and related Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with private partners.
Akpoti-Uduaghan had asked about the openness and organization of the ministry’s agreements.
“I asked for a copy of the MoU because I needed to know that due diligence was done, but I didn’t get it, so I had to rely on conversations with other people,” she said.
The lawmaker also said that the government didn’t really work with her as a representative of the host community.
She said that she had written to the minister before asking for a meeting but had not been given one.
“I am the senator for Kogi Central, and since I went into the Senate, we have only met three times. “We only seem to see each other at budget presentations,” she added.
“I am saying it right now that I will write to you formally.” I am sitting in two roles. I have to project and protect the interests of the host community.
Akpoti-Uduaghan said during the session that the ministry was using the same old arguments without making any real progress.
“You’ve written this great speech. We merely met, talked to the press, and then every day we sit with our arms crossed and do nothing. Three years into your time as a minister, we’re still trying to figure out the best way to transport Ajaokuta back and forth. “Isn’t that funny?” she asked.
Shuaibu Audu, the Minister of Steel Development, talked about the ministry’s mission and how well its budget worked. He said that its agencies got N24.143 billion in the 2024 appropriation, with N9.5 billion going to personnel, N383 million going to overhead, and N11.06 billion going to capital expenditures.
He said that as of December 31, 2025, 56.5% of the appropriation had been released, with all of the people and overhead freed but only 48.4% of the capital released.
He also said that the 2025 budget’s capital releases had not yet begun.
Senator Isah Jibrin told the minister earlier in the session to stop relying on foreign investors and instead look into ways to finance Ajaokuta from within the country.
“We need to go to the Debt Management Office with specific demands for certain production lines, as Ajaokuta has more than 20 manufacturing lines that might be turned on in stages.
“Why is anyone waiting for foreign investors to show up? There are a lot of problems that come up with foreign investment. “One of them is security,” he stated.
Jibrin said that using even a small amount of money gathered locally to start up a few production lines may have a big impact on the economy and cut down on unemployment.
Ndubueze also said he was unhappy with how the ministry worked with MPs, bringing up past talks of bringing Ajaokuta back to life.
He claimed that the committee had gotten information from outside sources that certain of Ajaokuta’s troops could work if they got the right assistance.
Even though there was some tension, the committee decided to hold more meetings to deal with the unsolved issues related to Ajaokuta Steel Company and other agreements that were still open.
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