Minister Seeks Special Funding to Revitalise Ailing Steel Sector
Kasim Sumaina in Abuja
The Minister of Steel Development, Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, yesterday, sought for a special funding mechanism to drive policies and programmes to revitalise the comatose steel industry and set the country on the path to industrialisation.
He lamented that customary budget releases for the steel sector were detrimental to the sector’s development.
Audu who disclosed this while delivering his keynote address at the opening of a two-day Ministerial Management Retreat organised by the ministry to chart a course for achieving its Presidential Priorities, in Abuja, also advocated a Steel Sector Development Fund, akin to Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) which caters to the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, to help the ministry move at a faster pace in revamping the steel sector.
The minister, while giving an overview of the steel industry from conceptualisation in 1958, stated that despite the ugly history of steel development in Nigeria in the past four decades, the President Bola Tinubu’s administration has shown willingness to address the protracted challenges facing the industry.
He explained that the reviewed Presidential 8-Key Priorities has the steel sector as focal point for driving the economic development of the country.
According to him, “a critical evaluation of the 8-Point Agenda suggests the critical place of the steel sector in the realisation of these goals, especially in the areas of industrialisation, manufacturing and unlocking the natural resources potentials of the country.
“And, the creation of Ministry of Steel will give direct focus to the sector for it to become the bedrock of industrialisation of the Nigeria economy.”
He, however, assured Nigerians of the ministry’s commitment to deliver on Tinubu’s key priority of growing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country for sustainable economic and infrastructural greatness through the steel sector.
Similarly, the Minister of State for Steel Development, Alhaji Uba Maigari Ahmadu, hinted that the retreat would afford the management staff the opportunity to dissect each of the eight key priorities of the administration and explore ways to translate them into actionable strategies for the ministry.
Maigari, in his remarks, maintained that the retreat would offer the valuable opportunity to: “deeply understand how each of the eight priorities intersects with the steel industry.
