Olamilekan Adegbite, minister of mines and steel
development, says Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited will function to capacity
before the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Adegbite stated this at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
forum in Abuja on Tuesday.
Last year, the federal government budgeted N4 billion for
Ajaokuta Steel Company. The plant, which Buhari promised to revitalize, had
gulped about $5.1 billion from previous governments.
The minister said the federal government had made efforts to
ensure that the Russian company that built the steel industry come to Nigeria
to conduct a technical audit but COVID-19 pandemic distorted the plan in 2020.
He said that the steel company was conceived to produce
liquid steel, adding that the national iron ore mining company (NIOMCO) was set
up at Itakpe in Kogi to feed it with iron ore.
He explained that liquid steel could be used for building
aeroplanes and car engine parts, among others.
“Ajaokuta Steel Company has not been able to produce liquid
steel since it was built – the little hurdles we need to address,” he said.
“The steel company
has worked in the past whereby billets were imported to produce reinforcement,
but that was not what Ajaokuta steel was built for.”
He also said that the ministry had recently trained some
youths in the metal sub-sector on national development to ensure human capital
development, emphasising vibrant metals operators.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com