Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Prof. Mohammed Haruna, says with the inauguration of the National Steel Council after 40 years by President Muhammadu Buhari, hope is not lost for the Nigeria’s steel sector.
Haruna, in a presentation to the council in Abuja yesterday, said to revive the steel sector, the federal government should support local production by levying a development for tax on steel imported into Nigeria during the resuscitation period to fund the establishment of the Steel Development Fund accessible to investors. He also asked the government to adopt Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to fund steel complexes, adding that the nation should not own more than 40 percent equity in such partnership.
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“Hope is not lost; Ajaokuta Steel can be resuscitated with the calibre of people assembled to chair the council and its members,” Haruna said.
He urged the council to resist “the temptation of using foreign consultants and the so-called development partners who are here to corrupt the officials and offers foreign travels as free meals to ensure that the country geopolitical interference and sectional partisan politics.”
Chairman, National Steel Council, Mohammed Murtala Aliyu, said: “Nigeria’s steel sector is in a bad shape at the moment because if you look at our per capita consumption, it’s below the African average by looking at our population and quantum of steel required in the country, a lot has to be done.
“What you’ll notice is that the steel sector has been running in bits and pieces, this is the first time since the enactment of the act 40 years ago that the council is being set up.
