Nigeria’s Mines and Steel Development Industry has received a boost with a six hundred million dollars investment located in Kagarko area of Kaduna state.
The federal government wants the foreign investment company to prioritise the interests of its host community ahead of delivery of the first phase of the project in December 2020.
Joke Adisa reports that Nigeria’s local production of steel stands at a paltry 2.2 million metric tonnes per annum, representing 0.11 per cent of global steel production.
Experts said that figure is a far cry from the nation’s required 17 million metric tonnes annually, even as the country still imports an estimated $3.3
billion worth of steel and associated derivatives every year.
The Buhari administration launched a road map to re-position the sector and diversify the economy away from oil, and hoping to end importation of steel materials once the country attains self sufficiency in steel production.
Its efforts may be yielding fruits as the foreign-based conglomerate is prepared to sink six hundred million dollars into the production of steel.  Its target is to contribute 5.4 million metric tonnes in the first phase of the ongoing project
Nigeria’s Minister of Mines and Steel Development and the Kaduna state government, as the host state, are here to encourage the completion of the
first phase set at December 2020. They said the interest of the host community and its people should be paramount
The company said more than 30,000 direct jobs will be created once the project takes off in the next twelve months.
