President Bola Tinubu’s decision to create separate ministry for the steel industry was a testament to his commitment to revamping and strengthening the steel sector in the country, Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaib Audu Abubakar , has submitted.
While disclosing that the president has plans to grow the economy to over 1 trillion dollars before the end of his 2nd term in 2031, he also added that the Bola Tinubu administration is committed to repositioning the steel sector and unlocking its full potential.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned that the minister said this during his visit to the head office of KAM Holding Nigeria Limited at Asa-Dam road, Ilorin, Kwara state, on Tuesday.
He described KAM Holding Ltd as the largest indigenous steel company in the country while submitting that all Nigerians should be proud of the company for ‘doing a fantastic job’.
The minister also commended the company that has Alhaji Kamorudeen Yusuf as its CEO for doing Nigeria proud while noting that President Bola Tinubu is specially interested in giving needed encouragement to local manufacturers hence his (Shuaibu) decision to personally visit the company to see things for himself..
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‘And also to encourage local producers and local manufacturers was the reason why I decided to come to see things for myself. I may have sent a representative or maybe my Permanent Secretary or one of the directors. but I took the decision to be here in order to encourage your chairman, your vice-chairman and the entire management team and staff of Kam Holding Ltd, to encourage you and to tell you that you’re doing a fantastic job.
You’re making Nigeria proud. Mr President wants to encourage local manufacturers and I want to encourage and urge all of you to add your quota to the growth and development and the turnaround story of Nigeria.
Like I said during my visit to Mr governor this afternoon, the president of the federal republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, one of the cardinal objectives of the 8-point agenda of his renewed hope mandate is to grow the economy to over 1 trillion dollars by the end of his 2nd term in 2031 by the special grace of God.
And in order to do this, there is a need for a renewed focus on industrialization through the steel sector, hence Mr President’s decision to for the first time since our independence carved out separate ministry called the Ministry of Steel Development.
Part of my mandate as the pioneer Minister of Steel Development is to ensure the growth of the steel industry. Kam Holding Ltd stands out as the largest indigenous steel producing company in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Just before I came here, I stopped over at the plant in Jimba just on the outskirts of Ilorin, and it was clear that a lot of investments have been put into the plant. I spoke to the chairman, and he took me through the billions and billions and tens of billions of naira that he spent on the plant, getting the plant up and running. The plant is producing a significant amount of steel and steel bye products.
Actually, if you put all the various plants together, close to a million tonnes of steel and steel byproduct is being produced by Kam Holding Limited. I think it’s something that we all should be very proud of’ he said.
‘You have a company to be extremely proud of. Like you mentioned in the report, it’s a company that employs more than 20,000 direct and indirect people across all walks of life and I think that it’s a significant contribution to the Nigerian economy’ the minister added.
Earlier, in her welcome speech, Vice Chairman, KAM Holding Ltd, Erelu Iyadunni Bolanle Yusuf noted that the nation’s steel sector was dominated by foreign-owned companies until the CEO of the company (KAM Holding Ltd) got involved , changed the narrative and became a shining star, this, she added, has made him earn him several awards ,honourary Doctorate degrees, membership of national and world bodies, among others.
Asserting that KAM Holding Ltd has maintained international best safety practices in compliance with all relevant health and safety regulations with respect to its products, Erelu Bola Yusuf also talked about the company and what makes it stand out.
‘KAM Holding business-world spans across and beyond the shores of Nigeria, with our presence in 3 countries; Nigeria, India and China, we have had over two decades of track records of landmark achievements.
In Nigeria, we have offices in Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna, Delta, Akwa Ibom, and Plateau states and the FCT. We have created direct and indirect employment of Nigerians and Expatriates of over 20,000. We are a heterogeneous company from all corners of Nigeria.
The Products of Companies under the umbrella of KAM Holding which include Roofing nails (Galvanized and Regular), Couper nails, British Reinforcement Concrete (BRC), Mesh wire, Cold Roll Coils, Roofing sheets (Galvanized and Pre-painted Galvanized Iron), TMT Iron Rods, Wire Rods in Coils, etc, are in the market and are competing favorably with the foreign products.
Companies under the Holding have also won many awards in Human Capital Development, Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainable Environmental Compliance and Circle economy (zero waste champions) thereby standing as an exemplary leading manufacturer for others to emulate’ she said.
Erelu Bola Yusuf also suggested measures that should be taken to ensure continued growth of steel industry in the country while giving needed attention to protection of the local manufacturers .
Preventing importation and manufacturing of substandard steel and allied products and asking users of steel, like the Railways, Housing Sector, Defense, Road Constructions etc., to promote the procurement of locally- manufactured steel products for all government and public sectors will according to her help in this respect.
She also listed challenges faced by manufacturers in the country as a result of ongoing economic policy reforms to include scarcity of foreign exchange while stating the need for the Federal Government to support companies in their backward integration processes.
‘At this juncture, let us bring to your notice some of the challenges that the ongoing restructuring of the economy has imposed on us. The scarcity of foreign exchange combined with the sliding rates of foreign exchange have made Manufacturers to sustain huge losses. How? Majority of the big stakeholders cannot remit money for imported raw materials that had long been converted to finished goods and sold when the rate of foreign exchange was much lower than what we have now even though the Naira as a backstop had long been deposited with the CBN. Please help look into this as it affects those of us in the Steel Sector.
However, we salute the courage of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in conjunction with the Finance Ministry for churning out policies to save the Naira, stem the tide of inflation and stabilize the economy, as well as the tackling of currency speculators, who have made the stability of our full currency against the dollar very challenging.
It is our hope that your tour of our facility will further build your confidence to properly appraise our efforts in nation-building processes. We request the Honorable Minister to use your leverages as a Progressive to direct the attention of the Federal Government to refocus their attention to the Iron and Steel Sector, the indigenous efforts in particular.
On the other hand, if we have more employed people in the nation, the GDP of the nation will improve, which is another indicator to measure socio- economic development and greatly improve and enhance national security.
We therefore urge the current administration to help the Steel Industry in its backward integration processes to become self-reliant in the use of locally sourced raw materials to produce. Give us the impetus to expand and increase our investments in manufacturing in order to generate more employment, thereby enhancing national security’ she added-Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com. Thank you
