By Bobson Gbinije

“Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans

Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,

The emptiness of the ages in his face,

And on his back the burden of the world”.

Edwin Markham (1882-1940)

That iron and steel constitutes the fundamental fulcrum on which technological development and advancement can take place remains an unquestionable truism. From the Paleolithic Age, the Mesolithic Age down through the Neolithic Age to the Iron Age the illusive variable for development has always been “Iron”. Its discovery as a tool of civilization stimulated a sonorous Hosanna, to the modern world. But man is, however, already in the Space Age.

The most viable paradigm for measuring development and growth in a modern world like ours is sustainable industrialization, and industrialization cannot take place in absence of iron and steel. It is in the recognition of this that most developed and developing countries like America, through its iron and steel locations in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Chicago, Dallas, Birmingham, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Washington etc, Japan through its iron and steel industries in Kobe, Osaka, Yokohama, Toyama, Oita, Kitakyushu and Tokyo etc. Peru has one in Chimbote, Brazil has one in Belo Horizonte, Venezuela has in Guidad Guayama, some states of the old Soviet Union have, Tbilisi in Georgia, Dashabe  in Tajikistan. All these nations have made great technological and industrial strides because of the presence of iron and steel.

The Eastern Development Union (EDU) first initiated the idea of an iron steel and steel industry in 1963 and caused a preliminary survey to be carried out by the experts who recommended that it should be established in Onitsha. But because of the large sum involved, the Eastern Development Union took the project to the National Economic Council (NEC). Other regions suddenly became interested in an iron and steel industry and vehemently opposed its siting at Onitsha. Subsequently, another set of experts were commissioned by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1965 to survey once more the feasibility of the project, and again Onitsha was recommended. The Federal Government under Tafawa Balewa accepted the recommendation but insisted on splitting the industry into two: Steel manufacture to be sited at Idah and casting  and rolling at Onitsha. (The Economist, Feb.12, 1996, page 592).

The history of iron and steel development in Nigeria especially its siting is fraught with military and political maneuvers. The Jos, Enugu and Oshogbo Rolling Mills that are supposed to maintain an industrial symbiosis with the Delta Steel Company and the Ajaokuta Steel Company through a syncretic capacity to absorb their products are just not there.

The technological conceptualization of the iron and steel complex was a brilliant and laudable idea which took off very well, with adequate training and provision of manpower in every department of iron and steel complex management, production, maintenance, finance, raw materials and ergonomics.

Under its pioneer general manager,  Late Chief . Fred Brume, Delta Steel was heading towards becoming the hope of the long awaited break-through in industrial development for Nigeria and nay Africa. But given the Nigeria factor- The pull him down (PHD) mentality, hell was let loose.

From tribal wrangling to diabolical atrophy through inter-and intra personality clashes to atrabilious politicking the great Delta Steel Company Limited, Ovwian- Aladja was murdered. It is no more. It is no more. Paradise lost. It has sung its own nunc dimities.

Like all viable projects in Nigeria, even at national level there is no administrative continuity and so there is always and administrative chasm. As soon as it creeps in the centre cannot hold. So it happened to Delta Steel Company Limited.

Financial constraints that reared its head through fictitious contracts, gigantic hotel accommodation bills for all categories of staffers, overseas pleasures tips masqueraded as staff training programmes and over-staffing that precipitated indolence and conviviality during official hours.

Raw material scarcity and shortage became the bane of Delta Steel Company Limited. No proper arrangement was made for adequate supply of raw material input, as an index of meeting and sustaining production. This brought in the era of unnecessary shut-down of plants, and the immense loss of man-hour.

Above all, it was the wicked politicization of key important positions which engendered and entrenched mediocrity and all its attendant evils. Under the National party of Nigeria (NPN) government it was random selection of party faithfuls and stalwarts to be members of the Board of Directors. They were directors carnival, utter planlessnes, graft and in-fighting. All these finally killed ergonomics and efficiency of workers, Labour could no longer be sustained, because of the afore-mentioned pot-pourri of failures, and this whipped –up work to rule, industrial action, strikes and shutdowns because of non payment of salaries. And finally mass retrenchment with inability to pay benefits and pensions up till today by the new management.

Today, the power of words cannot describe the state of degeneracy into which the once beautiful permanent residential site, the satellite town and the industrial complex has plunged. Retrenched workers not paid their benefits have paid themselves through vandalizing and pillaging the existing structures. Oliver Goldsmith, the English poet aptly describes this scenario in his poem. “The Deserted Village”. “Sweet Smiling Village”. Lovelist of the lawn, thy, sports are fled and all thy charms are withdrawn. Amidst thy bowers the tyrants’ hand is seen. And desecration saddens all thy green: one only master grasps the whole domain. And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain! No more thy glassy brook reflects the day. But choked with sedges, works its weedy way, Along thy glades, a solidarity guest , the hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest; Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies, And tires their echoes with unvaried cries. Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruins all, And the long gross O’ertops the smoldering wall, And trembling, shrinking from the spoilers hand, far, faraway, thy children leave the land.”

The state of the workers in Delta Steel Company Ovwian Aladja under the new management  is better imagined than seen. With no salaries for upwards of nine (9) months they are crippling suffocatingly under the stranglehold of latent poverty. Most have resigned their fate to the Almighty, some have become peasant farmers, some have taken to menial jobs, their wives have become petty traders and their children casual labourers while the plant is kept running with no production.

Finally, what a hideous and horrendous disgrace to the Delta State Government, the present management of the Delta Steel Company Ovwian Aladja, the Nigerian Association of Engineers, Commerce and Industries, Nigeria Labour Congress and the President Ebele Jonathan –led Federal Government of Nigeria. Whither the steel and iron industry in Nigeria and technological advancement and development in Nigeria?

CHIEF BOBSON GBINIJE

MANDATE AGAINST POVERTY (MAP)

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