Speaking in Ilorin, Kwara State, when on a pre-commissioning visit to the Steel Cold Rolling Complex of Kam Industries Limited.
According to Aganga, about $14 billion has been committed to the petrochemical sector by foreign and local investors, which is expected to help the country so much that by 2017/2018, the country would be producing enough petroleum products that there will be no need to import.
“We have close to at least two million metric tonnes of reserve of iron ore; we are the 12thlargest in the world and the 2ndlargest in Africa and all these steel you see here today, they come from iron ore. So we have no business importing steel into the country,” he said.
He added that his ministry is working with the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development on a joint memorandum to the Federal Executive Council on policies and measures that would help to develop the steel sector.
“We want to create an industrial zone around Kamwire Industries, so that there will be other industries around this area feeding it and getting things around it. We will make sure that for those industrial zones, you get all you need; you will get electricity, water supply and all the things you’ll need to function and be competitive,” he assured.
According to him, most of the concerns of the operators have been addressed in the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) and positive results are already being recorded.
”We are almost there. We have consulted with you and other stakeholders in the industry. You have all contributed to the new measures and we are working on that already. The NIRP focuses on the enablers. One of the enablers, of course, is to make sure that we have affordable finance to support the industries,” Aganga said.
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