The Honourable Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Olukayode Fayemi, in an interview during a town hall meeting in Kaduna had assured Nigerians of the Ajaokuta Steel industry coming back to life in the shortest time as range of players have indicated their interest in helping to revive the industry. Some of the problems that earlier bedeviled the company the minister said is currently being taken care of. With the best among the bidding countries, Nigerians should be rest assured that all will be well once again. Zainab Tanimu was there for Top Celebrities Magazine.

Excerpts…

Sir, what is your ministry doing to revive the Ajaokuta industry?

The Ajaokuta steel industry no doubt is a darling of everybody. Mining is to the north while oil is to the South, as such we need to find a  mechanism to ensure that we turn these opportunities that are available into actual investments for the host communities and for the state that are involved in this.

What we are doing in order to revive Ajaokuta steel industry is in two folds. One, Ajaokuta is caught up in a legal production issue and we could ignore the legal issue and say all we are interested in is just that of reviving it and make it work. This is the priority of the government but this is a government that is also focusing on ways of doing this and also re-assuring investors of the sanctity of their investing in Nigeria. So, the problem of the concession that was given to Global Infrastructure Company, an India company under the Obasanjo administration and revoked under Yar’adua administration is what we are resolving with the Hon. Minister of Justice and Attorney General and we are really confident that in no time, perhaps within the next 6 months we would have resolved that. Once we get rid of that, simultaneously, we are negotiating with a range of players.

There are many that are approaching us that they can revive Ajaokuta. The Russians are interested, the Ukrainians are interested and the Chinese too are interested. We are looking for the best option that would allow us get Ajaokuta back within the next 24months.

Right now the bulk of the steel product we are using is imported in a country that has the resources that can produce a sizable portion of the steel that can be utilized locally. About 30 companies are in Nigeria currently producing steel from scrap. There are those that are not confident of steel that come from scrap because of the quality, particularly for high central production work. But evidence has clearly shown that steel from scrap can also be efficient use of steel. However, we want to make sure that Ajaokuta come to use by first resolving the legal issue and secondly looking for the best partner that has the resources and technology to bring Ajaokuta back to effective and immediate use in the shortest possible time.

In terms of training sir, what is the government doing?

Jos still remains the training base for mining in the country and we are doing a lot to expand the capacity of the institute of mining in Jos so that we can bring more young operators into the mining sector by building their capacities.