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By Chukwudi Nweje
The Ministries of Works, and Steel Development would collaborate in tapping into the opportunities in Ajaokuta Steel Plant for the development of road infrastructure in Nigeria.
This was part of the outcome of the inter-ministerial meeting between Minister of Works senator David Umahi and his Steel Development counterpart, Shuaib Audu at the inter-ministerial meeting held Tuesday, at the Office of the Minister of Works, in Abuja.
Chief Press Secretary to the Minister of Works, Orji Uchenna Orji, in a statement stated that the collaboration between the two ministries is in keeping with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reverse the developmental deficit in Nigeria within the shortest period of time.
He said, “The far-reaching resolutions of the two ministers underscored the imperative of coordination, cooperation coherence, and complementarity in the execution of Federal Government’s action plans for national development.”
In his speech, Umahi noted that the Ministry of Steel Development would play a major role in the road infrastructure revolution plan by providing more than 16 per cent of the materials needed for the construction of Nigeria’s roads in concrete pavement.
He said that tapping into the opportunities in Steel Industry would not only create jobs and wealth for Nigeria’s population, but it would also create a global market and encourage industrialisation.
“How do we reactive Ajaokuta Steel. We are going into concrete road, in this concrete road, about 16 per cent of it is from Steel while 30 per cent is cement. We need a lot of money to start but we decided to face it and God has given us an idea, we need about $35 billion to start. If we start waiting for the federal government, it might become difficult. We did Return on Investment (ROI), the profit we could have made, part of it will go to bank interest, we are looking at commercial bank but the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has to endorse it. If this could be done it means Mr President is actually living to his words and this is going to be possible.”
Umahi commended the Minister of Steel Development for his efforts in developing the steel sector, noting that steel industry is the bedrock of Nigeria’s industrialisation and the backbone that stimulates national development and economic boost for the industrial growth of any nation.
Umahi assured that the Ministry of Works would work collaboratively with the Ministry of Steel Development his efforts of enhancing the potentialities of Ajaokuta Steel Plant- the largest Steel Mill in Nigeria.
“Mr President never made a mistake in his appointment, I call him a Divine President, and the most important thing is that our eyes are on the job.
“One of the renewed hope agenda of Mr President is to think outside the box, Mr President inherited a large debt from the past administration. The beauty about it is that he is not complaining, he knew how the country was before he took the job and how it is. The good thing is that if you have passion for something God will give you an idea”, Umahi stated.
The Minister of Steel Development noted that the meeting was robust and incisive.
He said, “My mission is a wonderful one, I had a fantastic meeting initiated by the Minister of Works. We are seriously thinking outside the box to see how we can implement the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President. What we came to discuss here is how to restart Steel production at Ajaokuta Steel Plant.
“The Minister of Works has made it very clear that the Federal Government is looking to develop over 30,000 kilometres of road and a large component of that will be from steel wrought, and percentage of that steel wrought will be produced in Ajaokuta.
“We came to have a discussion on how to implement the process for producing it in Ajaokuta within the shortest possible time”.
Audu added that the initiative by both ministries would provide the needed economic boost for Nigeria, generate revenue and provide thousands of direct jobs for skilled and non- skilled technicians and hundreds of thousands of unskilled jobs in Nigeria.
