The federal government has set a ten-year roadmap for the revitalisation of the steel and metal industry in Nigeria, saying the sector is the foundation upon which Nigeria’s industrialisation will be built.
Minister of steel development, Prince Audu Shuaibu Abubakar, who disclosed this in Abuja during a press briefing, Friday, also set a three year roadmap to revive the Ajaokuta steel complex, which he disclosed would require from $2bn to $5bn to revive the entire steel complex.
Prince Audu said President Bola Tinubu was committed to reviving the steel sector and declared that his vision was to reverse the trend of 90 percent importation versus 10 per cent local production.
He, however, disclosed plans to revive units of the complex piecemeal, noting that Ajaokuta has about 44 different production units on 24,000 hectares of land.
According to him, the ministry will first revive the light steel mill for the production of iron rods at the cost of N35 billion, which will produce 50,000 metric tonnes of iron rods a year. He revealed that he had received a written commitment from the ministry of works to be off takers of the iron rods for the construction of infrastructure across the country.
Answering journalists’ question, Prince Audu declared that the legal issues affecting the steel plant had been concluded after the previous administration reached and paid a $490 million settlement fee to the litigant companies.
He said: “The Ajaokuta and steel plants which were set up to be an avenue for industrialization of Nigeria, for more than four decades, has hit a brick wall. The steel industry hasn’t done so well in terms of local production, and consumption of steel is actually in excess of five million metric tonnes annually.
“However, the local production of the steel is a very, 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.
“As you know, the Ministry of Steel Development was created by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in August 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, a factor that shows the urgency to revive 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,
“Right now, 90 per cent of our steel demand is imported. You know, we spent in excess of $4 billion in terms of importation of steel. We want to reverse that trend of 90 percent import and 10 percent local production.
“Ideally what I want to get to is 90 per cent of local production, and then 10 per cent 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.”
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