Olamilekan Adegbite, the minister of Mines and Steel Development, says Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited will function to capacity before the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Mr. Adegbite made this known during the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.
He said the federal government had made effort to ensure that the Russian company that built the steel industry would come to Nigeria to conduct a technical audit of the company.
He said the Russian team would have been in Nigeria since 2020 for the technical audit but the COVID-19 pandemic distorted the plan.
NAN recalls that the minister had earlier said that a 60-man team from Russia would arrive in Nigeria to start a technical audit of Ajaokuta steel.
The agreement on how to revive the steel company was reached during a meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and President Vladimir Putin in Russia in 2019.
However, the minister said the main purpose of the steel company when it was conceived and built was to produce liquid steel, adding that the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) was set up at Itakpe in Kogi to feed it with iron ore.
He explained that liquid steel could be used for building an airplane and car engine parts, among others