The federal government has begun consultations with Chinese Company, Luan Steel Holding Group, to build a new steel plant in Nigeria and commence the building of military hardware at the Ajaokuta Steel Plant.
This move, according to a statement by Salamatu F. Jibaniya, head of press and public relations department of the ministry, was the purpose of the visit by a delegation of the minister of steel development, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, the Minister of Defence, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru, and the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Steel Development, Dr. Mary A Ogbe, in their tour of Luan Steel Holding Group in Hefei and Guangzhou Regions of China.
The statement explained that Prince Audu’s trip to China was part of efforts to industrialise Nigeria through the steel industry in line with the Renewed Hope’ Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to Prince Audu, work has commenced to create an operational Steel Industry that would attract billions of dollars of foreign direct investments into the country, open up the nation’s economy, and create hundreds of thousands of job opportunities, which form the core of the renewed hope agenda.
He further noted that building military hardware in Ajaokuta Steel Plant was also timely, considering that Nigeria is faced with security challenges, adding that this would help in the fight against insecurity and terrorism.
“We had very meaningful discussions with the chairman of Luan Steel Holding Group, Mr Wang Jianbing, the chief executive officer of the company, Mr Xiao Weizhan, and other senior executives of the Luan Steel Holding Group.
“Like several other international and local investors, Luan Steel Holding Group has indicated interest in setting up a new steel plant in Nigeria, as well as handling a component of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant for building military hardware in Nigeria.
“The minister of Defence and I led this delegation, which includes the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Steel Development, Dr Mary Ogbe, and Sole administrator/managing director of Ajaokuta Steel Company, Mr Sumaila Abdul-Akaba, to enable us have a first-hand look at the Luan steel plants before arriving at a decision.
“With all the commitments on ground, we are optimistic that before the end of President Tinubu’s administration, we will commence commercial steel production in some of the government-owned entities in Nigeria,” he stated.
