Ajaokuta Was Mainly Designed To Build Aeroplanes, Car Engine Parts, Others

The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has said that if the Ajaokuta Steel Company starts operation (optimally) it will produce liquid steel, which is used to build engine parts of aeroplane and cars among others.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite.

He said, “It was designed to produce liquid steel and that can be used for building aeroplane and car engine parts, among others.

Ajaokuta Steel Company has not been able to produce liquid steel since it was built –the little hurdles we need to address.

The steel company has worked in the past whereby billet was imported to produce reinforcement but that was not what Ajaokuta steel was built for.”

The Minister was optimistic that Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd will function to capacity before the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari ends.

He also added that the ministry had recently trained some youths in the metal sub-sector on national development to ensure human capital development with special emphasis on vibrant metals operators.

He said that the workshop was an appropriate strategy meant to launch and mainstream youths into the sector, adding that the three weeks intensive workshop was to work towards the development of the sector.

What you should know

The federal government had made efforts to ensure that the Russian company that built the steel industry would come to Nigeria to conduct a technical audit of the company.

The 60-man Russian team was supposed to be in Nigeria since 2020 for the technical audit but COVID-19 pandemic distorted the plan.

The agreement on how to revive the steel company was reached during a meeting between President Buhari and President Vladimir Putin in Russia in 2019.

The Russian government had nominated TPE, the original builder of Ajaokuta Steel Company, to conduct a technical audit of the steel company to ascertain the level of work remaining to complete the steel company.