THE NIGERIAN lower house of parliament has launched a full scale investigation into a steel project which has gulped about $4.67bn but has failed to get off the ground. In a recent report, the World Bank recommended the scrapping of the Ajaokuta Steel Project for its non-viability. The construction of Africa’s biggest steel project commenced about 20 years ago. The probe is to determine the commercial viability, economic and technical sustainability of the project, the exact sum of money expended on the project and ascertain all issues connected with the alleged $2.5bn ”debt buyback” scam under the regime of Sani Abacha. Some close aides of Abacha, including his erstwhile finance minister Anthony Ani have been accused of involvement in the scam. The managing director of the steel complex, Thomas Ajayi Mayachi, said he was kept in the dark over certain big contracts awarded to some foreign contractors working on the project as ”higher authority” which he did not name handled approvals for such contracts. – AFP