OFFICE OF THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF WORKS

 *OFFICE OF THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF WORKS*

*PRESS RELEASE*

*THINKING OUT OF THE BOX AND INTER- MINISTERIAL CO-OPERATION RESONATE  AS MR PRESIDENT'S MINISTER OF WORKS AND  THE MINISTER OF STEEL DEVELOPMENT  BRAINSTORM ON TAPPING INTO THE OPPORTUNITIES IN AJAOKUTA STEEL PLANT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONCRETE ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE IN NIGERIA*

The Honourable Minister of Works, *His Excellency Sen.  Engr . Nweze David Umahi , CON* and the  Hon  Minister of  Steel Development , *Shuaib Audu*  have resolved  to  synergize and strategize in tapping into the opportunities in    Ajaokuta Steel Plant  for the  development of road infrastructure in  Nigeria.

 This was part of the outcome of their inter-ministerial meeting held today, 21th November,2023 at the Office of the Hon  Minister of Works, Federal Ministry of Works, Headquarters,Mabushi- Abuja and this is in keeping with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, *His Excellency, Sen. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR* who is doing everything possible to reverse the ugly trend of Nigeria's developmental history and revolutionize national economic development within the shortest period of time.

The far reaching resolutions  of the two Hon. Ministers underscored the imperative of  coordination, cooperation coherence, and complementarity in the execution of Federal Government's action plans for national development.

 Speaking on the outcome of their meeting, the Hon. Minister of Works said that  the Ministry of Steel  Development would play a major role in the road infrastructure revolution plan envisioned by Mr President by providing more than 16% of the materials  needed for the construction of Nigeria's roads in concrete pavement. He said that tapping into the opportunities in Steel Industry  would not only creat jobs and wealth for Nigeria's population, it would also create  a global market and encourage industrialization.

"How do we  reactive Ajaokuta Steel. We are going into concrete road, in this concrete road, about 16 percent of it is from Steel while 30 percent is cement . We need a lot of money to start but we decided to face  it and  God   has given us an idea , we need about 35 billion dollars  to start . If we start waiting for FG it might become difficult. We did Return On Investment (ROI) , the profit we could have made, part of it will go to bank interest ,we are looking at commercial bank but Federal Executive Council has to endorse it. If this could be done it means Mr President is actually living to his words and this is going to be possible"

The Hon Minister of Works also  commended the Hon. Minister of Steel Development for his efforts in developing the steel sector, noting that steel industry is the bedrock of Nigeria's industrialization and the backbone that stimulates national development and economic boost for the industrial growth of any nation. He  assured the Hon. Minister of  Steel Development that his Ministry would work collaboratively in his efforts of  enhancing the potentialities of Ajaokuta Steel Plant- the largest Steel Mill in Nigeria. 

"Mr President never made a mistake in his appointment , I call him a Divine President, and  the most important thing is that our eyes are on the job”  

The Minister continued, “One of the renewed hope agenda of Mr President is to think outside the box , Mr President inherited a large shunk of debt from the past administration. The beauty about it is that he is not complaining , he knew how the country was before he took the job and how it is. The good thing is that if you have passion for something God will give you an idea ,”

Earlier, the Minister of Steel Development said the meeting was robust and incisive “ My mission is a wonderful one , I  had a  fantastic meeting initiated by the Hon. Minister of Works.  We are seriously thinking outside the box to see how we can implement the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President. What we came to discuss here is how to restart Steel production at Ajaokuta Steel Plant . The  Hon  Minister of Works has made it very clear that the Federal  Government  is looking to develop over 30,000 kilometers of road  and a large component of that will be from Steel wrought , and percentage of that Steel wrought will be produced in Ajaokuta. We came to have a discussion on how to implement the process for producing it  in Ajaokuta within the shortest possible time"

The Hon. Minister of Steel Development emphasized the importance of the initiative by both Ministers  and expresssed hope that it would provide the needed economic boost for the nation, generate revenue and provide thousands of direct jobs for skilled and non- skilled technicians and hundreds of thousands of unskilled jobs in Nigeria. "And we are  to achieve 2 or 3 three things , one to create job opportunity for Nigerians  as a whole, two, to ensure that the corridor around the North Central Zone and around the Ajaokuta Warri axis is busy with activities and thirdly, the plant has been inactive for close to four decades and we are here to restart the plant within the shortest possible time” 

*Hon. Barr. Orji Uchenna Orji* ( Chief Press Secretary to the Hon. Minister of Works)

*21 November , 2023*