Don urges FG to complete Ajaokuta Steel Company

By Usman Shuaibu

A lecturer at the University of Abuja, Prof. Oyihi Boniface Oloche, has urged the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency complete the Ajaokuta Steel Company by using locally available materials such as Iron Ore and Limestone among others.
He also charged the government to partner with the Research Institutes such as National Metallurgical Development Council (NMDC), Jos to intensify efforts/ research into the use of locally available medium coking coal at Obi-Lafia by providing reasonable money for it.
Oloche, who stated this while presenting his inaugural lecture at the permanent site of the University on Thursday, further pleaded with the Government to deregulate the materials industries such as glass industries and Aluminum industries for the sake of private sector participation.
According to the Professor, Government should ban importation of substandard steel materials in the market and encourage production of standard products that could be use in relevant industries.
While fielding questions from newsmen, Professor of Materials Engineering noted that the collapses of building in Nigeria were due to the poor quality of materials being used during the building.
On his part, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’Allah who was represented by Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Clement Alawa, said the inaugural lecture was one of the most important things in the life of the University.
Na’Allah also said the inaugural lecture was based on the work the inaugural lecturer had done in the academic fields, pointing out that the management of the University would continue to organize inaugural lectures for the Professors in order to share the knowledge they had acquired.
Meanwhile, the inaugural lecturer who was presented with a plaque by the representatives of the Vice-Chancellor at the end of the lecture entitled his lecture as “Iron Ore: A Potential Source of Steel and Fertilizer for Sustainable Development”.