The Federal Government through the Ministry of Steel Development is considering a concession process for the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company as part of efforts to hasten its revival.
Says the Ajaokuta roadmap implementation will create 500,000 jobs.
It also hinted at a three-year ultimatum to kick-start operations and production of steel in line with a directive from President Bola Tinubu.
The Minister of Steel Development, Shuaibu Audu, disclosed this during an interaction with journalists on Friday in Abuja.
This comes barely a year after a High Court in Kogi State restrained the government from a planned concession of the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and the National Iron Ore Mining Company at Itakpe.
He said, “About the three-year plan for Ajoakuta Steel and whether we should assume that it would start working, I think the short answer is yes.
“The three-year plan is to enable us to start production, of some form of steel production in the next three years, so we should be able to get the light steel mill working, the engineering workshop working, we should be able to get some the lines plants working and operating at near full capacity or full capacity.
“Part of what we would also do within that three years is to concession it to a concessionaire that has the required skill set to be able to have liquid steel production coming out of blast points. Ideally, in a perfect scenario, that’s what we would like.
“And I suspect that the concession agreement to be worthwhile for the concessionaire would have to be a minimum of let’s say, 10- or 30-years agreement where they would be able to recoup their capital.”
According to him, the implementation of the roadmap which requires an investment of $5bn will create 500,000 jobs and possible revenue of $10bn.
Audu further stated that the ministry was considering all available options with stakeholders to avoid the misdeeds of previous administrations, adding ongoing litigations have been resolved.