The President of Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Aliko Dangote, has declared that the long-delayed Ajaokuta Steel Complex may never work, warning that rapid global technological advancements have rendered the project outdated despite decades of investment and government promises.

Speaking on Tuesday in an interview with journalists, Dangote stressed that while no nation can truly thrive without a functional steel industry, the Ajaokuta Steel Complex may never work because the world has moved beyond the technology on which the project was originally conceived.

He said, “The steel we are talking about, we will definitely look at the opportunities of doing that. There is no nation that you can build without a steel industry. And honestly, between us here, Ajaokuta will not work. We can keep deceiving ourselves. We can keep being passionate about this. It’s not possible.”

The multi-billion-dollar complex was launched in 1979 to host a Metallurgical Process Plant, an Engineering Complex, and other auxiliary facilities. Over 45 years later, the project remains dormant, plagued by mismanagement and corruption.

Despite President Bola Tinubu’s January 2024 approval to restart the plant’s light steel section—following a $5 billion investment pledge from India’s Jindal Steel Group during the 2023 G20 Summit—progress has been minimal.

Dangote further warned that Africa must avoid becoming a dumping ground for outdated industrial plans and cheap imports that stifle job creation. “We should be very careful, not only in Nigeria but in the entire African continent. People are importing poverty into our nations and exporting our jobs out. And we have the fastest-growing population in the world,” he said.

His remarks underscore growing concerns that the Ajaokuta project, once touted as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s industrialization, may never achieve its original vision unless radically reimagined with modern technology.