The federal government has secured at least $10 billion in investments from various investors to support the resuscitation of the National Iron Ore Corporation (NIOMCO) and the Ajaokuta Steel Complex, according to a statement made by Minister of Steel Development Shuaibu Audu.
Speaking on Thursday at the ongoing 2024 Ministerial briefing in Abuja, Shuaibu stated that numerous additional parties, in addition to the plant’s original builders, Tyamzhpromexport (TPE), have expressed interest in contributing to its revival.
Shuaibu stated, “One is the revival of the Ajaokuta steel complex and the National Iron Ore Company (NIOMCO) as well as the revival of the steel industry.” He also mentioned that his ministry had been assigned two mandates after being established by President Tinubu.
“On the sidelines of the G20 meeting in New Delhi, India, in September 2023, Jindal Steel Group had indicated an interest in investing up to $5 billion in a new steel plant in Nigeria. At this time, the company is considering either acquiring existing plants or setting up greenfield plants,” he said.
In keeping with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for massive job creation through industrialization, he further disclosed that upon the completion of these deals, about $10 billion in new investments in both existing and new steel plants in Nigeria will be established. This will create over 500,000 direct and indirect jobs in the steel industry.
Recalling that the Steel Plant had been constructed more than forty-five years earlier, Shuaibu said that it was ninety-eight percent complete when it was placed into comatose at the conclusion of the Shehu Shagari regime in 1979. He continued by saying that previous administrations had made multiple attempts to finish the project, but they had come up short.
“With the President’s support, we are nearing completion in obtaining a N35 billion private investment to commence the light steel rail project. Our request to raise private financing to restart the Ajaokuta light section rail in order to produce iron rods has been approved by the president.”
The minister further disclosed that a group of ministers traveled to Hefei and Guangzhou in China to conduct business with Wang Jianbing, the chairman of Luan Steel Holding Group, Xiao Weizhan, the company’s chief executive officer, and other top Luan Steel Holding Group executives.
He added that offer letters for this transaction had already been received from a number of financial institutions and that up to 5,000 direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians are anticipated as a result of the project.
In addition, Shuaibu stated that the ministry was planning to establish an industrial hub on the Ajaokuta Plant, which still has over 2200 hectares of land remaining after the plant was built on only 800 hectares. The ministry was collaborating closely with the minister of work to provide iron rods for the road infrastructure, pointing out that the administration was already involved in the construction of 30,000-kilometer roads across the geopolitical zones.
“We have prepared an internal document divided into a 10-year plan and a 3-year plan for the revival of the plant and ultimately the sector,” he said, referring to the efforts being made to revitalize the steel complex.
“Meeting with important stakeholders and reviewing the global steel markets, including those in China and India, drafting an internal document outlining a three-year plan and a ten-year plan for the revival of Ajaokuta/NIOMCIO, and consulting with industry stakeholders to plan the way forward are some of the other efforts being made by the ministry to revitalize the sector,” he said.
Shuaibu added that the ministry was in the process of improving scrap metal regulations and had enlisted the National Association of Scrap Metals Dealers to provide regulatory oversight for the industry. The ministry currently needs between N2 and $5 million to draft a roadmap and put all the necessary networks in place in order to revive the plant.
