GOODWILL ADDRESS BY HONOURABLE MINISTER OF STEEL DEVELOPMENT, PRINCE SHUAIBU ABUBAKAR AUDU, AT THE 9TH EDITION OF THE NIGERIA MINING WEEK (NMW) HOLDING AT THE ABUJA CONTINENTAL HOTEL, ABUJA.
Protocols
The Honourable Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, My brother and Host of the 2024 Nigeria Mining Week Your Excellencies, the State Governors here present Other Ministers of the Federal Republic here present;
The Chairmen and Members of the National Assembly Committees on Solid Minerals and Steel here present;
The National President, Miners Association of Nigeria, Mr. Dele Ayanleke and the entire leadership of the Association for Organizing the 2024 Nigeria Mining Week;
The Event Director – Mining, Vuka Group, Mr. Samukelo Madlabane and the entire Team of the Vuka Group, Representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Members of the Advisory Board of the 2024 Nigeria Mining Week
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Mary Ogbe;
The Heads of Government Parastatals and Agencies here present;
Stakeholders here present from Africa and beyond;
Gentlemen and Ladies of the Press;
Ladies and Gentlemen!
PREAMBLE
I am highly honoured to make this ministerial address at the 9th Annual Nigeria Mining Week 2024 with the theme ‘Building the Mining Sector to be the Cornerstone of Nigeria’s economy. The annual mining week event has evolved over time to be a major platform where different stakeholders in the minerals sector are assembled for robust engagements on the best strategies to advance the course of harnessing our natural resources endowments for economic development. I must not fail to appreciate my big brother and colleague, Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake for the collaborative partnership between us because of the obvious nexus between the Solid Minerals and the Iron and Steel sectors.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is important to highlight that the focus of the 2024 Annual Mining Week equally resonates with the priorities of our visionary leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR especially as he targets;
Reforming the economy to deliver sustained inclusive growth Unlocking Energy and Natural resources for sustainable development and Accelerate diversification through industrialization, digitization, creative arts, manufacturing and innovation. I have carefully perused the thematic topics that will be deliberated on at this event and the presenters that will lead the discussions especially as it relates to the “Policy Choices for Accelerating Nigeria’s Iron and Steel Industry Development”. I am confident that the Presenters/Discussants will do justice to the topics and deliver very constructive conversations and shared-insights that will elicit progressive engagements aligning with the ideals of the 8-Point Agenda of President Tinubu’s Administration which targets reinvigoration of the steel industry to serve as a catalyst for Nigeria’s industrialization. .
ONGOING ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES UNDER THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION
Following the discouraging history of Steel Development in Nigeria in the past four and a half decades, the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has shown tremendous willingness to address the protracted challenges facing the industry. This noble decision of Mr. President is hinged on the following key objectives to be driven by the new Ministry of Steel Development;
To lead the campaign for the utilization of the abundant Steel Raw Materials in Nigeria for the substitution of imported Steel products which has been draining our foreign exchange to the tune of over $4Billion USD annually;
To evolve a regulatory regime that would ensure sustainable Steel and other Metals production in Nigeria for both local and international markets;
To set and monitor quality standards for local and foreign Steel products to curb structural failures in different construction projects in Nigeria and Generate employment and promote technology transfer for Nigeria’s economic development. We have taken this mandate since assumption of office on 21st August, 2023 with every sense of responsibility and the following milestones/activities were recorded;
Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL)
The Federal Government has decided to privatise the fore-most integrated Steel Plant at Ajaokuta and its captive Iron Ore Mine at Itakpe and we have kick-started the process to ensure the accomplishment of the above. We recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the original builders of the Plant, Messrs. TPE and their partners in Moscow, Russia. The procurement process for the selection of the technical audit firm has been completed and the auditing of the entire plant will commence before end of the year.
Engineering Workshops at ASCL
We are working to also sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Ministry of Defence and Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) for the production of major input materials for the manufacturing of military hardware using the Five (5) Engineering Workshops in ASCL.
Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria (AlSCON)
A high-level executive meeting with Mr. President was held in July, 2024 and we were given a matching order to ensure that all issues encumbering the commencement of operation be resolved. Relevant stakeholders are currently working to address critical issues of sustainable & competitive gas pricing regime, power generation and evacuation into the national grid, ownership tussle and dredging of Imo River.
Prospective New Investments into the Sector
We have also followed up on;
The landmark investment resolution reached between Mr. President and the President of Jindal Steel Group in India on the sidelines of the G-20 Meeting in New Delhi in 2023. Messrs. Jindal Steel Group has pledged to invest about $5 billion USD for the setting up of another 5 million tons steel plant in Nigeria and we are already providing the enabling environment through different organs of Government. This singular investment alone will require over 20 million tons of different steel raw materials to feed the Plant.
The Inner Galaxy Group’s is investing about USD 300 million in a new Steel Plant in Ogun State to produce Galvanized Steel Profiles for the Automotive Industry.
The Bell Oil and Gas USD 100 Million investment in Pipe Value Assembly and Composite Pipe manufacturing Facility in Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos and a host of others.
THE BOOT-CAMP TRAINING PROGRAMME
We are currently evaluating applications from over 225,000 online applications as at close of portal for the Pilot Boot Camp Training Programme for Nigerian youths for Technical Capacity Building in Welding/Fabrication, Industrial Foundry & Metallurgy, Instrumentation, System Control and Mechanical Maintenance. The idea is to train and develop the technical capacities of 700 selected Trainees and support them with equipment to become self-reliant and prepare a new set middle level manpower for the emerging Steel Industry in Nigeria. We are also liaising with tertiary and secondary education authorities in Nigeria to evolve sustainable mechanisms that will elicit interest of the youths in Material Sciences for sustainable manpower supply of the Metals Industry.
OTHER STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
Other Strategic initiatives we have embarked upon to re-position the Metals Industry include:
National Steel Summit
I have taken time to inspect a number of local Steel company operators in Nigeria to appreciate their issues and put the necessary fiscal incentives to support their investment. Some of the issues raised include dumping of sub-standard imported products, Energy supply, High cost of Scraps as input materials, forex for importation of equipment and logistics challenges. We shall be organizing a Summit of all stakeholders within the first quarter of 2025 to agree on a wholistic measures to promote our local operators.
Regulatory Frameworks
We collaborated with the National Assembly Committees on Steel Development for quick passage of the following bills:
National Metallurgical Training Institute, Onitsha Establishment Bill;
Metallurgical Industry Bill;
and amendment of National Steel Council Act.
Roadmap for the Steel Industry
As the Regulator cum Administrator of the Metals Industry in Nigeria, we have developed an in-house Ten (10) year sectoral Roadmap for the sustainable growth of the sector with a target production of 10 million Tons of Crude Steel and other metallic products per annum. The document will be ready for presentation to stakeholders at the next summit for their inputs and review where necessary and final adoption by stakeholders. The final Roadmap Document would provide guidance to all industry players and prospective investors on the policy direction of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
CONCLUSION
I want to conclude by drawing our attention to the importance of adopting synergic approach to accomplishing the objectives of the Government Policy on Value-Addition to our solid mineral endowments. Complimentary to the sterling efforts and investments of the Federal Government in Geo-Science Data Generation, we must commensurately drive Value-Addition to our mineral resources to achieve the desired quick wins from Mines to Market.
The Ministry of Steel Development is driving strong initiatives of Value Proposition for accelerated Metallic Minerals Development and therefore urge all industry stakeholders to support Government to convert our abundant mineral resources in Nigeria to semi-finished and finished steel products which will generate massive employment for our teeming youths, significantly improve the economic well-being of our people and meaningfully contribute to Nation’s GDP.
I wish you all a successful deliberation at this 9th Edition of the Nigeria Mining Week.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
