Daily Trust (Abuja)
Andrew Agbese
2 July 2009
Jos — Zuma Steel West Africa, which acquired and took over the defunct Jos Steel Rolling mill, has given an insight into why the company has not been able to produce since the takeover of the company in late 2005, saying the problem is not as a result of power tussle among its directors but lack of power supply.
The company is said to have been dogged by a power tussle among its director. Acting general manager of the company, Isaiah Akuma, who spoke to Daily Trust in Jos said the problem of the company remains the problem of insufficient power supply which has beset the company since inception.
"Give us electricity today and see if we don't produce," he said. Akuma explained that the company alone needs about 7 mw of electricity for no less than 14 hours daily to go into full scale production but bemoaned the current situation where the whole of Plateau state is allotted only 11 mw of electricity.
He said constant negotiations with power companies in Nigeria has not yielded any fruit as one of them could only offer eight hours of the supply they need which is only sufficient for heating the furnace and not enough to start production while the other independent power company in the state has been shying away from discussing the issue with them.
The manager explained that this left the company with no option but to disconnect from the power arrangement as it was costing them no less than N1.5 million to maintain that commitment when the company was not making any profit due to lack of production.
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