The Kogi government on Saturday pleaded with the federal government to resuscitate the Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd.
The Commissioner for Information in the state, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, observed that the company’s site was fast becoming a den of criminals,
He made the plea in a statement issued in Lokoja following series of criminal activities reported in Ajaokuta Local Government Area in a short space of time.
The most recent, Fanwo, noted were the gruesome murder of three police officers and five vigilantes, the kidnapping of three children on Wednesday and killing of six persons, including two expatriates and two police officers.
“Already, the kidnappers of the three children aged between five years and eight years have called to demand N10 million ransom for their release.
“We hereby urge the federal government to urgently resuscitate the Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd. as some of the abandoned facilities and structures in the town harbour criminal elements.
“Government should do something drastic about resuscitation of the company to help ti keep off criminal elements.
“Nevertheless, we won’t succumb to the violence of criminals. We have been defeating the criminals before and we will defeat them again. Kogi is a no-go area to criminals.
•As a government, we have the capacity to rise to the challenge to defend our people from those elements,” he said.