Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Alh Shuaib Audu, has disclosed that the Federal Government is working on a 10-year roadmap for the revival of the steel industry.
Audu disclosed this on Tuesday in Ilorin, Kwara State, during the tour of facilities at KAM Holdings Ltd, a manufacturer of steel products.
This is as the Kwara State governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said Nigeria’s industrialisation efforts will yield awesome results once the country maximises its steel potentials through the proposed reforms by President Bola Tinubu.
The minister said, “We are working on a 10-year roadmap for the revival of steel industry in the country. We have engaged some consultants to help us get inputs from indigenous steel companies in the country to get the job done.
“We must ensure that we rid our market of substandard steel products to forestall incidences of building collapse in the country,” the minister said.
He informed of President Tinubu’s determination to encourage local investors in the steel sector.
“Consequently, we have engaged the original developers of the Ajaokuta Steel (the Chinese consortium) to work on it. We want to create an industrial park where various steel companies will benefit from Ajaokuta Steel and improve the country’s GDP,” Audu said.
On his part, Governor AbdulRazaq who spoke while receiving the minister at the Government House in Ilorin, described the move by the Federal Government to revive the Ajaokuta Steel Company as sacrosanct and key to the industrialisation drive of the administration.
He urged President Tinubu to consider Kwara’s KAM Holdings Limited to take over the operation of Ajaokuta Steel Production, citing the prominent contributions of the company (KAM) to the sector in Nigeria.
The governor noted that Kwara is today arguably the second largest steel production hub in Nigeria through the activities of the firm.
“As you know, Ajaokuta is an albatross, and we are very confident that the company will untie the issues there and make the industry come to fruition. When Ajaokuta was established, it was in Kwara state,” AbdulRazaq said.
He commended the minister for championing the process to revive Ajaokuta, including picking Kwara as their first choice for the fact-finding visit.
“I must commend you for stepping out of your office to get the facts right before you formulate a policy for the development of the steel sector. This is highly commendable because going round will enable you to get firsthand facts in moving this sector forward,” the governor said.