Failure Of The Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill Project Construction Essay

Failure Of The Ajaokuta Steel involute Mill Project Construction EssayIn the pursual to develop its policy in the stigma field the Federal Government of Nigeria under General Gowan era promulgated Decree No.19 on April 14, 1971 setting up the Nigerian Steel Development Authority (NSDA) which was charged with the responsibility for the planning, locution and operation of steel plants in the country. It was in addition tasked with carrying out investigations related to geological surveys, market studies and metallurgical research. The NSDA also embarked on short and long-term training of staff in overseas countries such as India and the Soviet Union on the operation and management of an adjure and steel plant. Hence, in 1973, Tiajpromexport (TPE) of the then USSR was commissioned to prepare a preliminary travail Report (PPR) on the iron and steel industry in Nigeria. The Report submitted in 1974, studied alternative production schemes based on both local and imported raw materi als and was accepted in 1975.A contract for the preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) signed in 1975 with the USSR was submitted to the Nigerian government in October of 1977. With the assistance of Sofresid of France as consultants, a variety of the steel plant was accepted in June 1978.The DPR specified broadly the general layout, composition and requirements as well as a tentative master catalogue of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant. It was on the basis of this Detailed Project Report that the Global Contract was signed on the 13th of July 1979 between Nigeria and Tiajpromexport of the Soviet Union for the construction of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant. The signing of this contract signified major commitments on the part of the Nigerian government and the USSR to the development of an iron and steel industry in Nigeria.The Nigerian government on 18th of September 1979 promulgated the National Steel Council Decree No.60 dissolving the NSDA. The new decree provided for the makeup o f the Ajaokuta Steel Plant as well as five other limited liability companies. These are the Delta Steel Company Ltd., Aladja the Jos Steel Rolling Mill, the Oshogbo Steel Rolling Mill, the Katsina Steel Rolling Mill, and the then Associated Ores and Mining Company Ltd., now, National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) at Itakpe. However, the very long gestation period of the Ajaokuta visualise meant that the rolling move had enigmas of inadequate supply or lack of billets to operate optimally. This contributed significantly to the poor performance of the Nigerian steel sector. The steel companies, rolling mills and the mining union have all now been incorporated as limited liability companies and are expected to be self-funding (BPE, 2005).However, the government of Nigeria wishes to fully divest its equity holdings in the rolling mills. It seeks prospective core/strategic investors with an initial sale plan of acquisition of 80 per cent shares of the rolling mills, while the rema ining shares will be offered to the staff of the company as well as the local community (Bureau of Public Enterprises, 2003).1.1 THE AJAOKUTA PROJECT OVERVIEWThe Ajaokuta project was established on the 18th of September 1979, with formation of Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd. Which was charged with the responsibility of constructing and operating the Ajaokuta integrated iron and steel plant. The project at inception was envisaged to produce 1.3 gazillion tonnes at its first stage, 2.6 million tonnes at its punt stage, and 5.2 million tonnes per annum at the third variety of long and flat products. The principal units of the Ajaokuta Plant include the iron do plant, steel making plant, the rolling mills, repair facilities, auxiliary facilities and the electric power supply system. The envisaged features of the Plant include 150mm Wire terminal Mill, 320mm Light region and Bar Mill, 700mm Medium Section and Structural Mill and 900/630 semi-continuous Billet Mill Cross Section of ASCL Sou rce Julius Berger Plc Construction period, 10/1980-06/1990ASCL, 1990). The Ajaokuta integrated plant, which is based on the blast furnace process of iron making, has a raw materials preparation unit that includes the Sintering plant, Coke-oven and By-product unit under theiron-making unit. The rolling mills are four, two of which, namely, the light section and Wire Rod mills were supposed to be the priority rolling mills. In terms of product mix, the Preliminary Project Report (PPR), proposed equal amounts of flat and long products. However, during this period, the issue economy was buoyant with the construction industry enjoying a boom, and this led to the decision that the first stage of the plant would be devoted to long products only, while the second stage an expansion to 2.6 x 106 tones, would be for the production of flats. The first phase was therefore designed to produce long products like iron bars, wire rods, angles, squares, channels, beams, and structures. close to o f the products were expected to be used in the civil engineering construction industry. However, hindsight shows that the change of the original concept of the plant was a serious error (Ogbu et.al, 1995).1.2 complemental EFFORTS OF THE AJAOKUTA PROJECTSeveral successive governance of the federal government had taken measures in the extremity of the Ajaokuta project since its inception yet till date the project had not attained the first phase of its installed capacity. In line with the industrial policy of the civilian administration, a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) between FGN and a Japanese firm, Kobe Steel Ltd, was entered into on May 31, 2002 to provide a Fastmelt Technology for the completion of the plant-phase I. Six months later, other agreement (Financing Agreement F.A) was reached with SOLGAS of USA to finance the project between the FGN and Kobe Steel Ltd on the 29th November, 2002. In a space of another s blush months ON June 30, 2003 the Federal Government signed yet another agreement with the same SOLGAS to extinguish earlier agreements reached and to move ahead to manage the project leaving in the wake too many loopholes, thereby place into serious questions our techno-managerial ability. As this arrangement was in progress, there was on standby TPE to stage a come back. TPE actually submitted to the ministry to rehabilitate the plant at the salute of $300million. The recent effort of the government is the constitution of the 16-man Interim care Committee after the concession of Ajaokuta steel company to an Indian based company, Global pedestal Nigeria Limited (GINL) failed in 2008 on the ground that the Indian firm was short-changing the interest of the country (Olaitan, 2010). The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development received the business plan of the Interim caution Committee for re-operationalising. With this, the seed fund of Six hundred and fifty (N650) million naira only was approved by the federal government to be released t o the Interim Management Committee for re-operationalising the Light section mill, the Wire rod mill, the engineering workshops, the Thermal Power Plant at the Steel Plant. According to the Minister the immediate phase is re-operationalising, the second is completion of the plants and the third phase is privatization, (Mukhtar, 2010).1.3 MAJOR CHALLENGES OF AJAOKUTA PROJECTThe major problems inhibiting the proper functionality of Ajaokuta Steel Company can be categorized under the adjacentFunding.Raw material development.Infrastructure.High cost of energy and natural gas.Inappropriate capital structure.1.3.1 FUNDING.Many ex-regimes save the Shagari Ekwueme era of the Second Republic had had but a smattering on the importance of the steel dream. Suffice it to say that in the Abacha regime the project was said to have been mortgaged much to the chagrin of compatriots in the industry and the country in general.,(Omonihgo, 2004). It could be concluded that the government has spent a lo t on the project, but poor funding has been the bane of completion schedules of the projectSecond to it is the lack of working capital for the operation of the Rolling Mills and other units of the steel project led to the shot down of these plants resulted in idleness and deterioration of the completed units. There is no gain saying that for a reactivation of these units, substantial working capital is required.1.3.2 RAW MATERIAL DEVELOPMENTMines development, glide path roads, procurementinstallation of plant and equipment are still outstanding for a number of raw materials input in steel production apart from iron ore. There also, lies the problem of identifying and determining sources of imported raw materials like bauxite and manganese, cooking coal etc.1.3.3 INFRASTRUCTUREApart from raw materials, external infrastructures to and from Ajaokuta steel are lacking. The completion of Warri-Ajaokuta path line, dredging of, River Niger, and installation of bulk handling facilities at the ports are still outstanding.1.3.4 INAPPROPRIATE CAPITAL STRUCTUREAjaokuta steel company being a public sector steel company has found it extremely difficult to source for funds in the financial market. Consequently, the government has been their source of funds. Sadly, the dwindling economic fortunes of the country via mal administration have made the government incapable of meeting the financial needs of these companies adequately.However, in as much as the nation is over independent on oil and its non diversification of the economy, politics both local and international, corruption has been the bligh of the realization of the steel dream, it mud inevitable that the completion and commissioning of the Ajaokuta steel plant remains the bed rock to Nigerians quest towards industrialization.2.0 THEORY2.1 Per Capita Consumption of steelThe per capita employment of steel is the index used to determine the level of industrialization of a country. The per capita consumption of stee l in Nigeria is woefully very small 10kg, some say it is less than that while the world average is 130kg. Statistics show that Nigeria is lagging behind even other African countries, with lesser endowments like Zimbabwe (25kg), Egypt (42kg), Algeria (38kg) and South Africa (112kg). But Nigeria is richly endowed with extensive deposits of metallic and nonmetallic materials across the country, which is why confronted by this no-count economic outlook, the African Iron and Steel Association, AlSA, in May 2002 advised the Nigerian government that the nation can deploy her resources to raise up her level of per capita consumption of steel to 100kg, so as to jumpstart industrialisation within the next 10 years, Adding that Nigeria, with a population of over 150 million has a very large room and huge domestic market that can sustain such rapid growth. The country will also save for herself a lot of foreign exchange earnings if ASCL and DSC can come on stream, according to AISA.From the fo regoing therefore, Nigerias demand for steel is estimated at about 12.0million tonnes per annum to begin industrialisation proper. If ASCL and DSC are operating optimally, then, they would contribute annually 5.2 million and 1.0 million tonnes respectively or cumulatively 6.2 million tonnes per year to the domestic market. It behooves, therefore, that the remaining 50 percentage will still need to be imported or, another Ajaokuta and Delta Steel Complexes are required to argument the short-fall in supply.2.2 Build Own Transfer firmness2.3 Corporate Governance3.0 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE RESEARCH

Feminist Writing In Mirror

Feminist Writing In MirrorFeminism is undeniably one of major themes in her poetry. The following essay entrust also be discussing the feminist writing style of Sylvia Plath, specifically as presented in her poem Mirror. An ambitious char writer, Sylvia Plath was living in an era that be a charwomans role in a male dominated society. She felt imprisoned in this society. The styling that has led to the continuity of her art and its relevance to society rump be attributed to many situationors and techniques common among her poetry (SAT, 2008).Plath has been considered a deeply honest writer, whose ceaseless self-scrutiny has given a unique point of view to psychological illness and to the theme of the feminist-martyr in a patriarchal society. (Liukkonen, 2008)Mirror emphasizes on a number of aspects and issues such as women go through despair and loneliness. Freedman discusses Plaths purpose of the mirror as a symbol of female passivity, subjugation, and Plaths own conflicted self-identity caused by social pressure to reconcile the competing obligations of artistic and domestic bread and butter. (Freedman, October,1993)Mirror narrates the interactions with a narcissist woman. However the woman is probably Sylvia Plath herself as at the firstborn stanza, first sentence of the poem it states clearly that I am silver and exact. (Plath, 1961). Silver is the ambiguity of Sylvia. This woman also keeps on exploreing her reflection whether in the mirror or the lake. The Mirror boasts, I have no preconceptions. (Plath, 1961). The first five sentences of the first stanza are to proclaim that the woman in the poem is always that truthful as well as faithful. It is related with Plaths background story. For instance, Plath could have accepted the fact of Ted Hughes unfaithfulness and have blamed herself for the declining of her beauty. As a result, she wrote Mirror to describe the pain of an aging woman from the liars of guys and the feeling of a beauty-declinin g woman.The Mirror then reports what it unremarkably does it reflects the pink, with speckles on the opposite wall. (Plath, 1961) Here, Plath uses a pink colour wall to represent her materialization age. Joshua also agree with this statement, where he comments around It is pink, with speckles, and a connection to a freckle-faced child is apparent, implying blemish-free freshness and the mirrors own youth (Newtown, 2009). Normally, green would be used instead to represent four-year-old. Anyway, the pink might come from term of pink of health and this colour has represented the femininity. This is justified because in the next line I have looked at it so dogged I think it is a set out of my heart (Plath, 1961), it mentions that it has gazed at that wall for a long period. It is saying that in her entire life, she has been expected to act like a female and she has been doing it for so oft so now she thinks it must be part of her. She is the woman as male-defined predilectionl or as the ideal manqu, the woman who desires to remain forever the young girl (Freedman, October,1993). The preceding lines Faces and darkness separate us over and over. (Plath, 1961), has expounded the despair of loneliness and misery of her come-and-gone relationship, which she never acquire the fruition of a soul- satisfying full-strength love.In the second stanza, again the woman search for her reflection from the lake. But this time, it portrays a phenomenon where woman denies the reality about her physical display. The poem says Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me. Searching my reaches for what she really is. (Plath, 1961). The woman is unhappy with her appearance and evades from it as she could not accept the reflected appearance of her. It is further explained where it says Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the dream. (Plath, 1961). She keeps herself away from truth of the reflection but preferred to believe the sweet talks and the praises of the moon or candles. In this case, moon or candles might refer as those people who deceive her, praising how gorgeous she is, but in fact she is no longer. However, she is still enjoyed living in those liars or should say she choose to believe those lies. Here arise another feminist issue, which is woman always chooses to accept what is fake but as long as it is worth to believe, rather than to face the reality, the truth or the facts. Just like Sylvia Plath, she refuses the fact that in her time where women were still need to do those handed-down roles which were cook, clean, and care. Eventually, she has caused too much stress and tensions in the fighting of her rights, and eventually she committed suicide in 1963.Anyhow, the woman is always being reflected faithfully for which the lake would expect gratitude. However, it is often rewarded with tears and an agitation of hands (Plath, 1961). This clearly shows how reluctant, dissatisfy and helpless for a woman to accept the faithful report, y et the mirror or lake is still in truth important to her. Mirror discusses the importance of itself in a womans life. In Mirror for instance, we find a poem of two stanzas where the entire second stanza preoccupies itself with a woman and her relationship to her mirror, which we come to see is really the womans relationship to the view of herself.(SAT, 2008) Freedman stated that for many women writers, the search in the mirror is ultimately a search for the self, often for the self as artist (Freedman, October,1993). I am important to her. She come and goes. (Plath, 1961), this sentence shows that Plath was always looking into the mirror to search for herself. She struggled from an identity crisis of sorts and composition gazing the reflection in the mirror, it could have to deal with her searching for herself. Another point of view will be the woman indulges herself with hope that she wishes to see herself to appear young and beauty again in front of mirror or lake, that why she k eeps on coming and going. However she has disappointed again and again. It clarifies that women do care about their appearance a lot. Joshua also agreed with this statement, where he wrote The mirror is important to the woman, and yet recognizes that she comes and goes as she pleases (Newtown, 2009).This idea is further explained when darkness invade into the womans life. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. (Plath, 1961). As mentioned above, the darkness represents the depressions, the loneliness. As twenty-four hours passes, her youth declines and the figure of her age increase. The woman is despair and unhappy with her life. This is because she has no one to love her and her life is at the end point where she realizes her youth is passed and yet she got nothing but a failure marriage. In short, the idea here is the feeling of a woman with a series of unsuccessful love who had poured in so much time so much hope but eventually never obtains a fair output where by she also lost her beauty. It is rather a complicated feeling for a woman when she could not get justified with her efforts in maintaining the relationship.The idea is explored further in the last two lines, where it says, In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman / Rises toward her day after day, like a horrible fish (Mirror 633). The woman in the poem is no longer a young, beautiful woman she is aging, and in the womans eyes that is a appalling thing. (SAT, 2008) The woman in the mirror is no doubt ageing and it is believed that the mirror has accompanied her since young age, observing her growth, and reflecting her withers and languishes to an old one. The last line which describes the woman rise towards her day after day like a terrible fish (Plath, 1961) could hint to the woman is very anxious as she is now like a terrible fish. A terrible fish could be further explained as a woman who has lost her value and no one will concern about her just like a dead fi sh and the feeling is pretty terrible. The phrase like a terrible fish further enhances the idea of rebellion. Womens somebody does not merely deal in fairness and beauty it will be terrible when their rights are trampled with no consideration.In conclusion, Sylvia Plath started her feminist writing because, in her time, the society treated women as objects as if they had no mind. Besides, she was very oppressed by men or more specify her husband. With this Mirror she reflected her despair feeling, the grievance of the society where women were always dominated by men and also grieves with her declining beauty. With her unique literary style, she often has the themes of feminist criticism in her poetry and Mirror is no exception to the body of her work that remains a relevant part of our literary heritage today. (SAT, 2008)

Guns and Violence Essay -- Argument Argumentative Weapons Arms Essays

Guns and Violence School shootings, gang abandon, drive by shootings, murder, and thousands of acts of violence are act every day. Members of our society criticize their own people for this violence while they continue to sit back and do nonhing about it. These acts of violence have got many contributing factors. Violence in our country today is escalating because we dont control the distribution of the guns sold. There are not enough restrictions on guns sold legally. The ineligible purchase of guns through the black market is out of control. There is not enough education on the usage and storage of guns. There are not many restrictions on the distributions of guns. Guns are sold to any one who is of eighteen years of age or older. There is another restriction it is called the waiting period. every one who is willing to wait three to five days to receive their gun can purchase one. The government enforced this law to allow season for the p erson who is buying the gun to calm down, or come to another resolution than violence. The fact that there are little restrictions on the purchasing of guns leads to much bigger problems. Problems such as school shootings. Many people do not store their guns correctly and this allows children to come in contact with these guns. This often leads to violence. Whether this violence occurs in schools, on the playground, in the streets, or in the childrens own bedroom. The guns sold legally to ...

Isolation in A Rose for Emily Essay -- essays papers

Isolation in A Rose for Emily The year is 1852, Emily Grierson has just been born into the underage town of Jefferson. A town she will soon discover has distinct hierarchial differences and social classes that are to be followed by everyone in her fellowship. However this same community and the values which it h centenarians will eventually be a differentiate factor in determining Miss Emilys madness. A Rose for Emily, tells the romance of a cleaning lady who fails to live up to her high re perpetrateation and fitting in a community where almost everyone knows each others business. William Faulkner lets the reader into the life of Emily Grierson from two different key perspectives, man and woman. The men represent respectful affection towards Emily, while the women are just plain curious and enjoy gossiping behind her back. In this story Faulkner reveals how a communitys actions, or in this case, lack of action can contribute to ones madness. Faulkner opens A Rose for Em ily with a lengthy fifty-six-word single sentence that shows the communitys reaction to her shoemakers last and describes the scene by dint of gender differences. Although both men and women swear out the funeral, they do so for very distinct reasons. Faulkner writes, When Miss Emily died, our whole town went to her funeral the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant- a combined gardener and cook- had seen in at least ten years (p.52-53). With this initial passage we see what motivates the townspeople to attend Emilys funeral. Although the men attend the funeral to show a sort of respectful affection, the reader gets the feeling that the men have attended because th... ...uses to enter. It is safe to say that there are a handsome number of factors that help contribute to Miss Emilys madness. Her fathers over controlling relationship, is not a heal thy one and does not really prepare her for dealing with relationships in the future. However, when her father dies she does not receive the support she deserves from the community, simply because of her high patriarchal status. She is not regarded as a real person, who has feelings just like anyone else, instead she is put on a pedestal that she can not live up to and like an old fallen monument she leaves the people of Jefferson behind, without having a friend or someone that even cared about her. Maybe if someone would have come to her in her time of need she could have received the help she desperately indispensable and maybe she might have lead a fulfilling, normal and enjoyable life.

Characterization in The Little Prince and Pinocchio Essay -- essays pa

Characterization in The Little Prince and Pinocchio Childrens stories are often written most growing up or appreciating the joy of being a kid. These stories consist of slips that children can easily relate to and offer the road to exciting finds. The main genius has a personality very similar to the young readers. They have childlike qualities that are enchanting, lovable, curious and especially adventurous. The protagonist encounters individuals on his adventures, which have specific characteristics that mirror the traits of the main character. The reader may also boast these same characteristics, which guides the reader to understand the conflicts they may encounter in life. These dominant traits are very childlike to spot and are used to create powerful images and send influential messages of chasteity either directly or indirectly to the young readers. Each character symbolizes a specific temptation or obstacle a child must take in order to grow into a good and mora l adult. In the two stories of The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery and Pinocchio by Collodi, the authors effectively illustrate how important it is to learn self-discipline as a child even when it is so easy to get caught up in the moment and lose sight of the big picture. Through the effective character personality traits and their captivating adventures the child girdle attentive and retains the moral lesson the author is attempting to convey. Pinocchio and the Little Prince are very similar characters. They are exciting, curious and adventurous and are both striving towards a point goal. Pinocchio wants to become a boy and must abide by certain conditions before his ultimate goal can be reached. The Little Prince is on an excit... ...tle Princes soul rests in his home planet through the rose. Like the Prince, the rose is delicate and needs protection from outside dangers. Her roots are planted at home and she is in need of constant care. Dynamic characterization of Pi nocchio and the Little Prince, as well as minor characters in the story, have created an exciting adventure for children. These stories keep the reader interested and begging for more even though they are essentially educational readings. By using minor characters to exemplify the complexity of the main character, the authors were able to deliver many powerful messages of morality and help children understand the complexities growing up.BibliographyC. Collodi. Pinocchio. Trans. Ed Young. New York Philomel Books, 1996Saint Exupery. The Little Prince. Trans, T. V. F. Cuffe, London Penguin Books, 1995

Social Commentary in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald :: free essay writer

The Great Gatsby Social Commentary On one level The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald comments on the careless gaiety and moral decadence of the period in which it was set. It contains innumerable references to the contemporary scene. The wild extravagance of Gatsbys parties, the shallowness and aimlessness of the guests and the hint of Gatsbys exponentiation in crime all identify the period and the American setting. But as a piece of fond commentary The Great Gatsby also describes the affliction of the American dream, from the point of view that American political ideals conflict with the actual social conditions that exist. For whereas American democracy is based on the idea of equality among people, the integrity is that social discrimination still exists and the divisions among the classes cannot be overcome. Myrtles attempt to break into the group to which the Buchanans belong is doomed to fail. Taking advantage of her vivacity, her lively nature, she seeks to escape fro m her own class. She enters into an function with Tom and takes on his way of living. But she only becomes vulgar and corrupt like the rich. She scorns people from her own class and loses all sense of morality. And for all her social ambition, Myrtle never succeeds in her attempt to find a place for herself in Toms class. When it comes to a crisis, the rich stand together against all outsiders. Myrtles condition, of course, is a weaker verbal expression of Gatsbys to a greater extent significant struggle. While Myrtles desire springs from social ambition, Gatsbys is related more to his idealism, his faith in lifes possibilities. Undoubtedly, his desire is also influenced by social considerations Daisy, who is wealthy and beautiful, represents a way of life which is remote from Gatsbys and therefore more attractive because it is out of reach. However, social consciousness is not a basic cause. It merely directs and increases Gatsbys belief in lifes possibilities. Like Myrtle, Gats by struggles to fit himself into another social group, but his attempt is more urgent because his whole faith in life is involved in it. Failure, therefore, is more terrible for him. His whole career, his confidence in himself and in life is totally shattered when he fails to win Daisy. His death when it comes is almost insignificant, for, with the collapse of his dream, Gatsby is already spiritually dead. As social satire, The Great Gatsby is also a comment on moral decadence in modem American society.