The Nation Newspaper

Tag: steel industry

  • Stanbic IBTC to invest in steel industry

    Stanbic IBTC and Standard Chartered Bank are set to invest in Nigeria’s steel and solid materials industry.

    Team leader of the Stanbic IBTC and Standard Chartered Bank team, Mark Buncombe, explained that the bank is looking for opportunities to invest in the mining sector.

    He spoke yesterday in Abuja when the team paid the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Hon. Abubakar Bwari, a visit.

    He said: “The main aim of coming is to get a better understanding from the minister on the mining Industry, and the particular products that we should be looking out for as a bank especially iron ore and coal, and the additional opportunities that he will like the banking industry to support to grow the industry.”

    Bwari informed the team that Nigeria has about 44 minerals that have been identified like gold, barite, limestone, tin, lithium, pantalite and manganese, among others.

    The Minister also added that iron ore has been discovered in Katarogo, Kaduna State and that Nigeria has attained self-sufficiency in cement production, which it presently exports.

    The minister said: “This is what we have been looking for to fund the industry in Nigeria. Today, we are trying to find out how much minerals we have in commercial quantities. We presently have a project, the integrated exploration project, where we prioritise some minerals like gold, tin, among others to ascertain their commercial value so that we can have bankable data that can attract investors.

    “We have about 44 minerals that we have identified like gold, barite, limestone, tin, lithium, pantalite, and manganese, among others.

     

     

  • Workers urge Fed Govt to strengthen EFCC, ICPC

    Workers in the steel industry have called on the Federal Government to give free hand to institutions saddled with fighting financial crimes and others to operate.

    The workers decried the flagrant abuse of laws at various levels of government and by agencies, adding that only a non-biased institution can ensure good governance and protection of the treasury.

    At a workshop held in Ibadan with the theme: “Trade unionism and the enhancement of workers in the steel and engineering industry”,  some workers under the aegis of Steel and Engineering Workers Union (SEWUN), regretted that the country has become a laughing stock among the comity of nations.

    The union said this was because the leadership has deliberately decided to wreck the country and further impoverish the masses.

    In a communiqué signed by its National President, Comrade Elijah Adigun, and Senior Principal Deputy General Secretary, Comrade Idowu Johnson, SEWUN praised the government for the successes recorded so far in the fight against crime.

    It, however, charged the government to be total in the fight, irrespective of party affiliations and whose ox is gored. The workers blamed the government for not obeying court orders, stating that it is a very bad precedence in a growing democracy like Nigeria’s.

    Comrade Adigun also appealed to the National Assembly to remove the bureaucratic bottlenecks in the guise of voluntarism placed on the process for workers to belong to trade unions, adding that privatisation has taken the jobs of its members, especially as the privatised establishments are under performing.

    The union charged the government to protect local industries and the value of the naira. “The cost of production has risen astronomically, while the purchasing power of workers remained constant. Government has told us we have exited recession, but from the look of things, that has not been the case,” he said.

  • Diversification: Steel industry to the rescue

    If well harnessed, Nigeria could earn $3 billion in foreign exchange from the steel industry. In this article entitled: “Reviving Nigeria’s steel industry for economic development”, Frederick Owonka, identifies the industry as one of the major pillars of the diversification efforts of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

    Thanks to corruption, poor management, sponsored sabotage and fake news/barriers created by competitors/importers afraid of competition, professional litigants, many industrial initiatives have either collapsed or were abandoned. Nigeria’s steel industry is one of the key economic sectors abandoned by the past administrations in the country, and no reasonable government can afford to see such huge investments go into waste.

    Since the Buhari administration was elected into office in 2015, the country has witnessed a rigorous and well-focused commitment to revive the country’s abandoned industrial projects. The steel industry is one of the major pillars of Nigeria’s economic diversification efforts. Undoubtedly, the Buhari administration has demonstrated real commitment to this national endeavour.

    Local production of steel will significantly reduce Nigeria’s importation of steel and save Nigeria a minimum of $3 billion dollars in foreign exchange per year. In a world that has grown furiously competitive, no nation can afford to rely on one export commodity. It is, in fact, no longer safe for Nigeria to depend entirely on oil as the main revenue earner.

    One of the key objectives of privatisation is the desire to achieve efficiency and profitability. Besides, the success or failure of privatisation also depends on the technical experience and competence of the investors taking over public enterprises.

    Premium Steel and Mines Limited, fully owned by Nigerians with 50 years of successful track record in key sectors & major industries of the economy is making impressive progress in terms of achieving Nigeria’s economic diversification initiatives.

    According to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Prasantra Mishra, Premium Steel and Mines Ltd, will produce 50 per cent of Nigeria’s steel needs in the first phase of manufacture.

    With its facility at Ovwian, Aladja, Delta State, the company has pledged to meet more than 50 per cent of steel products need during the first phase of production. Premium Steel has been allocated Iron ore mines in Kogi and will commence mining soon. Mr. Mishra, who announced this at the official commissioning of the steel and mining facility, said it was high time “Nigeria, sustainably and inclusively converged with the rest of the world to enhance industrial and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita income.

    Mishra explained: “We are touching the lives of the local communities, particularly through accessible and affordable healthcare, employment, women empowerment, education and sustainable development.

    It is not enough for investors to make profits, but they should also make positive impact on the lives of the communities where they serve. In line with this objective, Mishra noted that his company is committed to Nigeria’s industrial and economic revolution to lay the foundation of efforts to address poverty and inequality by creating job opportunities, and wealth creation.

    The former Delta Steel Company (DSC), which was estimated to produce 1.2 million tons of various steel products per annum, is currently being run by Premium Steel and Mines Ltd.

    Backed by sound experience, these local investors have remarkably transformed the former DSC into modern industrial success story. The company is now retooled with state-of-the-art equipment and “it is ready for competitive production as the wheels spin once again”.

    Ranked as one of Nigeria’s best steel mills to produce the BS 4449 grade steel, Premium Steel has the capacity to produce high capacity and quality products to be used for high-rise buildings, bridges, flyovers, malls due to its tough mechanical and remarkable strength.

    No less important government support is essential to the success of the investors. Mishra praised the Buhari administration’s industrial transformation agenda, describing it as the “prerequisite for economic development and sustained per capita income. He also recognized the dynamic leadership style, guidance and support of the Mines & Steel Development Minister, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, for what he called Fayemi’s ‘strong initiative.’”

    According to the minister’s road map for development, his ministry is capable of contributing $27 billion dollars to the country’s GDP.

    According to the road map, Nigeria’s aspiration was to be Africa’s mining mineral processing centre last year and in 2020; it seeks to make Nigeria compete in the global market for refined metals and minerals from 2018 to 2030 with the ultimate goal of achieving globally competitive mining sector.

  • How to reposition steel industry, by expert

    For Nigeria to achieve her dream of industrialisation, economic diversification and job creation, there is the need to fix the perennial infrastructure challenges holding the steel industry down particularly Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL) in Kogi State.

    Speaking with The Nation, the former Joint Managing Director/CEO, Delta Steel Company (DSC), Ovwian-Aladja, Delta State, Dr.  S. O. Nwabuokei, said the steel industry, especially ASCL remained the bedrock of the country’s industrialisation hence the need to address the core infrastructural challenges responsible for ASCL’s moribund state and the under-performance of the steel industry generally.

    Nwabuokei, a Fellow, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), said, for instance, that to turn around the fortunes of the foremost steel rolling mill and the steel sector, the Escravos water channel, near Warri, Delta State, must be dredged to allow bigger ships berth or access the Delta ports.

    The channel connects the Warri Port to the Atlantic Ocean. But  Nwabuokei said the port has become virtually idle, as ocean-going vessels could no longer access it because of the shallow Escravos channel.

    For the dredging of the Escavos to take place, Nwabuokei said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC’s) crude oil pipelines within the vicinity of Warri Port must be relocated or lowered to a certain level.

    The former DSC chief also said  the government was yet to complete the remaining 22-kilometre rail track from Agbarho to Aladja in Warri. The rail line is supposed to facilitate the movement of raw materials and finished products to and from Ajaokuta.

    Indeed, these are some of the infrastructural issues cited by Global Steel Holdings Limited/Global Infrastructure Nigeria limited (GHIL/GINL), the Indian firm whose 10-year concession agreement with the Federal Government for the management of ASCL and National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO), Itakpe, also in Kogi State, was terminated on April 2, 2008.

    The former Indian managers of Ajaokuta had accused the Federal Government of reneging on its obligations under the concession agreement it signed with them, including the dredging of the Escravos channel, relocation of the NNPC crude oil pipelines and building the rail line.

    Nwabuokei said that the only way to reposition the steel sector to allow it play its role of galvanizing Nigeria’s industrialisation and economic diversification, inclosing creating jobs was for government to match words with action and address these core industry infrastructure challenges.

    According to him, ASCL and the steel industry as a whole remained a strategic industry, a job creator and a foreign exchange earner.He said it was important to reposition the industry to enable it generate a myriad of socio-economic benefits and increase the productive capacity of the nation through its linkages to other industrial sectors.

    The expert, however, said that Federal Government’s current plans to hand over the multi-billion dollar steel plant to investors with requisite technical knowledge and financial muscle under privatisation was a step in the right direction since “government has no business in business.”