The federal government and Kwara State governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, have praised the KAM Holdings Ltd, manufacturer of steel products for raising the bar in the steel industry in the country and providing job opportunities for no fewer than 20, 000 Nigerians.
The minister of Steel Development, Alh Shuaib Audu and Governor AbdulRazaq, made the commendation on Tuesday during the minister’s tour of facilities at the KAM Wires plant at Jimba- Oja in Ifelodun local government area and at its corporate head office in Ilorin, Kwara State capital.
Receiving the minister at the Government House, Ilorin, Governor AbdulRazaq said Nigeria’s industrialisation efforts will yield awesome results once the country maximises its steel potentials through the proposed reforms by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said the move by the Federal government to revive Ajaokuta Steel Company is sacrosanct and key to the industrialisation drive.
The governor urged 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.
Kwara is arguably the second largest steel production in Nigeria today through activities of KAM Holdings led by Alhaji Kamoru Yusuf, according to the Governor.
“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. And the fact you will see will convince you that KAM Holdings is the right company to take over the Ajaokuta Steel Company. It will benefit our country and our state.
“Kwara is arguably the second largest steel production in Nigeria today through activities of KAM Holdings led by Alhaji Kamoru Yusuf. We hold him in high esteem. His investment should be in trillions of naira.
“This is an industry which could have been located for economic reasons in the Ogun – Lagos southern axis, but for his patriotism and love for his state it is located in Kwara. So, we commend him for that. And I am making a very strong pitch for KAM Holdings in the future of Ajaokuta Steel Production and projects.”
For his part, the minister who spoke with newsmen after the tour of the steel company’s facilities thanked its management for providing no fewer than 20,000 direct and indirect job opportunities for Nigerians.
He said he was in Ilorin to see things for himself and see how government can further enhance the productivity of KAM Steel industry for the overall benefit of the country and its people.
Audu said that the federal government through his ministry was working on a 10-year roadmap for the revival of steel industry in the country.
“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.
“President Bola Tinubu wants to encourage local investors. 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, ” the minister said.
In her address, the vice chairman of of KAM Holdings Ltd, Dr Iyadunni Yusuf , noted that in the past the steel sector was dominated by foreign companies,” but, our founder, Dr Kamoru Yusuf came to the scene to liberate the sector from the grip of these foreign owned companies and made it Nigerian and has remained a shinning star ever since. ”
She said the company’s products were in the market and are competing favourably with foreign products.
Stressing the importance of the steel industry to the nation’s growth and development, Mrs Yusuf, urged the government to put measures in
place to prevent the importation and manufacturing of of substandard steel and allied products.
She asked the government to engage users of steel, like the railways, housing sector, defense, road construction,etc to promote the procurement of locally manufactured steel products for all government and public sector projects, to boost the demand for locally manufactured steel.
” It’s our hope that your tour of our facility will further boost your confidence to properly appraise our efforts in nation building processes. We request you to use your leverages as a progressive to direct the attention of the federal government to refocus their attention to the iron and steel sector, the indigenous efforts in particular.
” We, therefore urge the current administration to help the steel industry in its backward integration processes to become self- reliant in the use of locally sourced raw materials to produce. Give us the impetus to expand and increase our investments in manufacturing in order to generate more employment, thereby enhancing national security,” she added.