The Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu and the Permanent Secretary Dr Chris Osa Isokpunwu during the event.
By Victoria Onehi
The Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, has said the Steel sector can contribute 100 billion dollars to the proposed 1 trillion dollar economy target by 2030 set by President Bola Tinubu.
Audu disclosed this while briefing the media today, Thursday on the upcoming maiden National Steel Summit scheduled to hold on 16th – 17th July at NAF Centre in Abuja.
The Minister said: “Yes, on the steel sector contributing to the one trillion dollar economy target set by Mr President, there is no reason why the steel sector cannot contribute at least 10 percent of that figure to the economy if we aggregate everything together.
” The steel sector should be contributing at least 100 billion dollars to the economy all things being equal If you aggregate the cost of steel from Lagos- calaber super high way,Lagos- Badagry – Sokoto super high way and then the component of steel from other axis,it should be up to a hundred billion dollars.So that is our expectations.” Audu said.
The Minister said the Ministry as part of its efforts to rebuild and unlock the nations’ steel potentials, is hosting its inaugural National Steel Summit 2025 themed; “Rebuilding and Consolidating Nigeria’s Steel Industry: Collaborative Action for Sustainable Growth and Global Competitiveness”.
He said the Summit which aims to assemble key stakeholders to appraise the current status of the industry will explore investment opportunities, identify policy and infrastructural needs and adopt a consensus for the revival and sustainable Development of the Nigeria’s Steel sector. He said the event will be declared opened by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The Minister said the Administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is already pushing the right buttons to ensure the emergence of a virile Steel industry in Nigeria along the following key mandate instructions:
“That the utilisation 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 per annum and that we enthrone a regulatory regime that would ensure sustainable Steel and Non-Ferrous Metals production in Nigeria for both local and international markets;
” That we set and monitor quality standards for local and foreign Steel products to eradicate structural failures in different construction projects in Nigeria; and Generate massive employment for our teeming youths and promote technology transfer for Nigeria’s economic development.”the Minister said.
Prince Audu said the maiden Summit coming at about the two (2) years anniversary of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda will accord the Ministry an opportunity to share the Renewed Hope vision, the milestones recorded so far and receive feedbacks from stakeholders. “The stakeholders will be given an even platform to interact on their mutual areas of collaboration especially in market promotion and infrastructure sharing windows for competitive production.” He said.
In his welcome address,the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry,Dr. Chris Osa Isokpunwu, said the National Steel Summit is a major initiative of the Federal Ministry of Steel Development under the leadership of the Honourable Minister, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, aimed at repositioning the steel sector as a key driver of Nigeria’s industrialization and as economic transformation.”
He said steel sector, as the bedrock of industrialisation is linked to the strength of the countries manufacturing, infrastructure, and technological advancement. “This miden National Steel Summit, therefore, marks a pivotal moment in our national quest to rebuild and consolidate Nigeria’s steel industry through inclusive dialogue, strategic policy formulation, and targeted investment.” Isokpunwu notes.
