According to the Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaib Audu, the Ajaokuta steel plant would shortly begin producing military gear.
The minister stated that he has been working closely with his counterparts in the Ministries of Defence and Works to finalize plans for restarting the steel facility, which has been dormant for many years, to produce iron rods and military gear.
“In addition to restarting light steel mill, we want to produce military hardware in Ajaokuta Steel,” Audu said on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“I have been working very closely with Minister of Defence Alhaji Badaru and Minister of Works Senator Umahi to work hand in hand to produce iron rods in Ajaokuta and to produce military hardware in Ajaokuta.
“Whether it is helmets, whether it is bullets, whether it is vests, whether it is pads for tanks of all shapes and all of those things or rifles ammunitions, we will be able to have the capacity to be able to do that.”
The Ajaokuta Steel Mill, which is a massive project built over 40 years ago, has been mismanaged by successive governments and has been unable to fully take off as expected.
However, the minister stated that the present administration is dedicated to revitalizing the steel complex’s light steel mill so that it can produce iron rods.
According to him, the entire complex will cost between two and five billion dollars to refurbish, with the light steel mill component costing around N35 billion.
The minister also said that President Bola Tinubu given him permission to acquire funds locally in order to restart the steel plant’s light steel mill portion.
He claimed that the N35 billion investment in the steel mill will enable it to manufacture 50,000 tons of iron rods with a capacity of 400,000 tons. One of the problems noted by Audu is a lack of political will as one of the major reasons why the Ajaokuta Steel Mill has not functioned for over 40 years.
“I think part of the issue is that there has been no political will. This is the first time in our 63-year history since independence that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has created a Steel Ministry.
“He understands the industrial revolution will hinge on the Ministry of Steel. There were some concessions done in the past where concessionaires brought in didn’t have the skills required to be able to carry out the job, so those were some of the challenges,” he said.
The minister also disclosed that the last concession that was done with Global Steel was terminated, with the Nigerian government having to pay about $496 million for terminating the concession agreement with the Indian company.
