By Abubakar Yunusa
Minister of Steel Development said the Federal Government is ready to roll out a Three years roadmap to revitalize Ajaokuta Steel complex which will drastically reduce the importation of steel product into the country.
Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu stated this recently during his Media interaction session with journalist in Abuja, according to him there is also a ten years plan to revived other Steel and metals industry in Nigeria
“ Accordingly it would cost the Nation about 35 million naira to produce 50,000 metric tons of iron rods. Nigeria would need million of dollars to be able to revive the entire steel complex.
He explained that in an effort to grow the industry, the ministry will revive the light steel mill, for the production of iron rods which will be taken by the ministry of works for construction of infrastructure across the country.
He said: “The Ajaokuta and steel plans which were set up to be an avenue for industrialization of Nigeria, for more than four decades, has not work, the steel industry hasn’t done so well in terms of local production and consumption of steel is actually in excess of 5 million metric tons.
“However, the local production of the steel is a very small fraction of the total amount that is consumed in Nigeria most of the steel that is produced locally, is actually made from scrap metals as opposed to going through the production using all the natural resources.
“Meanwhile the Ministry of steel development was created by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2023, basically, with the mandate to revive the steel industry which has really been struggling since independence more than 60 years ago.”
The minister also noted that Nigeria spends in excess of $4 billion on steel importation annually, as he stressed on the urgency to resuscitate the dormant steel industry.
He also explained that plans were ongoing to concession the Ajaokuta Steel. “We would like to concession the Ajaokuta steel complex to people that have the core competence to be able to get the job done. As we know, Ajaokuta has about 44 different production units planted within the 24,000 hectares in terms of the land.
Prince Shuaibu said: “Right now, 90 percent of our steel demand is imported. we spent in excess of $4 billion in terms of importation of steel. We want to reverse that trend.
“Sincerely I want to get to the 90 percent of local production, and then 10 percent import. That is where we would like to get to and part of what we need to do to achieve that would be to pass the metallurgical industry bill for the steel and metals industry, as well as the National Steel Council Act.
“So these are some of the things that we need to do which is a difficult task. As you know, the steel industry is a prerequisite and a very important component of industrialising the country.”
He added, “You know, we expect that with all these, we should be able to bring in in excess of $10 billion into the economy and create in excess of 500,000 direct and indirect jobs for Nigeria.
“Also, part of what I will also be doing in the very near future is also to visit indigenous steel companies. You know, I don’t want the indigenous steel companies to feel left out. The federal government is here to support them, and to ensure that your business continues to grow.”
