The House of Representatives, on Thursday, directed its Committees on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Industry and Steel to probe the events surrounding the abandonment of the Osogbo Steel Rolling Company and Nigeria Machine Tools.

The committees have a four-week timeframe to report to the House for further legislative action.

The House also urged the Bureau of Public Enterprises to embark on regular inspections and monitoring of government-owned enterprises acquired by investors.

This resolution was sequel to the adoption of a motion titled, ‘Need to investigate the privatisation and subsequent abandonment of Osogbo Steel Rolling Mills,’ sponsored by Adewale Adebayo and Akanni Ademola.

The House noted that the Osogbo Steel Rolling Company was one of the three Inland Rolling Mills in Nigeria established by an Act of the Federal Government of 1976 and officially opened in 1983 to produce a maximum of 210,000 metric tonnes of iron rods annually.

Similarly, it noted that Nigeria Machine Tools was founded in 1980 to manufacture and distribute high-integrity machine tools and other engineering products and spares designed to serve the projects, operations, and maintenance needs of a range of industries.

The House noted that the two facilities were critical components of the Nigerian industrial sector as the Osogbo Steel Rolling Mills produced part of the steel used to construct Africa’s longest bridge, the Third Mainland Bridge, in Lagos.

At the plenary presided over by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, the House lamented that the abandoned properties had become safe havens for gunmen, kidnappers, and illicit drug traders who have constituted themselves into nuisance to Nigerian society.