The Minister of Steel Development, Shuaibu Audu, has said that the light section mill of Ajaokuta Steel will supply 400,000 metric tonnes of iron rods annually for road construction projects nationwide.
This announcement was made during a press briefing on Thursday in Abuja to review the performance of President Bola Tinubu’s ministers over the past 12 months.
Audu revealed that Tinubu has approved the restart of the light section mill at the Ajaokuta Steel complex, with an initial capital injection of N35 billion from a private financial institution.
This initiative is set to support the Ministry of Works in its extensive road construction agenda, which spans the six geopolitical zones of the country.
“We are at the final stage of raising over N35 billion from a local financial institution, which is about $25 million, to restart the light section mill of the complex so that we can produce iron rods.
“That light section mill has the capacity to produce up to 400,000 metric tonnes of iron rods per annum,” he said.
Highlighting the collaboration with the Minister of Works, David Umahi, Audu noted that 40,000 metric tonnes of these iron rods will be used for road construction across the country.
The nation currently has around 30,000 km of roads under construction, which will require approximately 7 million metric tonnes of iron rods over the next four years.
Despite Ajaokuta’s capacity being just a fraction of this requirement, the revival of the mill is seen as a crucial step in reducing Nigeria’s dependency on imported steel.
