The Federal Ministry of Works and its Steel Development counterpart have concluded plans to collaborate in achieving the goal President Bola Tinubu’s effort to revamp Nigeria’s Road infrastructure.
The collaboration was disclosed in a meeting between the Minister of Works, Chief David Umahi and his Steel Development counterpart, Mr. Shuaib Audu at the Ministry of Works headquarters in Abuja on Monday.
According to a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Minister of Works, Mr. Uchenna Orji, Chief Umahi revealed that that there is 16% steel component in the federal government’s planned adoption of concrete in roads construction across the country.
Speaking on the need to look inwards in Nigeria’s quest to develop world class infrastructure, Chief Umahi who hosted the meeting said that the Ajaokuta Steel Mill was strategic if Nigeria will industrialise successfully.
“How do we reactive Ajaokuta Steel. We are going into concrete road, in this concrete road, about 16 percent of it is from Steel while 30 percent is cement . We need a lot of money to start but we decided to face it. 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 Federal Executive Council 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,” Chief Umahi said.
Commending the Minister of Steel Development for his efforts in developing the steel sector, Engr. Umahi noted that steel industry is the bedrock of Nigeria’s industrialization and the backbone that stimulates national development and economic boost for the industrial growth of any nation.
Speaking on the strategic significance of the meeting, the Steel Development, Shuaib Audu said that the meeting was robust and insightful.
“My mission is a wonderful one, I had a fantastic meeting initiated by the Hon. 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 Hon Minister of Works has made it very clear that the Federal Government is looking to develop over 30,000 kilometers 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,” he said.
Mr. Shuaib Audu further emphasized the importance of the initiative by both ministers and expressed hope that the collaboration would provide the needed economic boost for the nation, generate revenue and provide thousands of direct jobs for skilled and non- skilled technicians and hundreds of thousands of unskilled jobs in Nigeria.
He said, “we are to achieve 2 or 3 three things , one to create job opportunity for Nigerians as a whole, two, to ensure that the corridor around the North Central Zone and around the Ajaokuta Warri axis is busy with activities and thirdly, the plant has been inactive for close to four decades and we are here to restart the plant within the shortest possible time.”