In today’s world, steel is not just taking a centre stage, its production and demand has been on the increase. In fact sales of steel have assumed such an astronomical growth that it is predicted, that about 400 million tones of steel representing about 30% of the total steel production in the world, will be traded through Internet. 

For nearly twenty five years, the town of Ajaokuta, host community for the largest single industrial establishment in Africa South of Sahara – the Ajaokuta Steel Plant, has waited to be part of this global trend in steel production, but the poor economic state of the Nigerian nation, international politics and the greater attention placed on the development of the oil sector against other productive and revenue yielding sector such as solid mineral, gas, etc, has compounded the Ajaokuta problem.

Given the colossal investment on the project by the Federal Government and the envisaged benefits to the nation’s economy, Nigerians were hopeful that the Ajaokuta Steel Plant would have been completed without delay. This dream was almost shattered when Tiajpromexport the Russian Firm handling the project abandoned work and left site in 1994.

Terminologies, like national museum, white elephant project, bottomless pit of national waste, have since become synonymous with the Ajaokuta Project. According to economic planners, the growth of any nation is largely dependent on it’s per capital consumption of steel and it is also said that any nation with a steel based economy, has created a nexus for its employment generation.

Records have shown that Nigeria is one of the lowest steel consumption countries in the world with less than about 600 thousand tones per annum as against a projected consumption figure of 10 million tones per annum. The steel sector in Nigeria, just like most public institutions like NEPA now PHCN and the Nigeria Railways were in total decay and comatose.

The government has put in place some programmes aimed at driving the economy with the hope of becoming one of the 20 biggest economies of the world by the year 2020. A casual look at this blue print, cast some doubt on the plan as steel has no clearly defined position. However, for any nation to develop, the steel and the metal industry must play a key role. According to the International Iron and Steel Institute’s (IISI) 2007 to 2008 forecast, the world will see a growth in demand of steel by 5.9% in 2007 and 6.1% in 2008.

The institutes’ report indicates that while China will remain the largest single market for steel in the world, Africa, Asia and South America will come on strong in the demand for steel between 2007 and 2008. Africa’s demand projections which were put at 21.6 Million Tones in 2006 will go up to 23.1 Million Tones in 2007 and cap up to 24.9 Million Tones in 2008.

Looking at the ranking of the top Country players of the industry, China was ranked as the number one steel producing country of the World in 2006 and it maintained the position in 2007. Japan, USA, Russia, S. Korea, Germany, India and Ukraine ranked second to eight respectively in both 2005 and 2006. Italy and Brazil swapped positions; with Italy taking 10th in 2005 and 9th in 2006, while Brazil placed 9th in 2005 and 10th in 2006.

Looking at these figures and tying it up with Nigeria’s quest of becoming one of the 20 biggest economies of the world by 2020, it would not be out of place to ask, Where will our steel industry be by 2020. Nigeria, with a population of over 140 million people, a GDP growth of 5.5%, vast land for agriculture, vast solid mineral, petroleum and gas reserves, it is indeed a great market that is facing a New scramble for its pie.

The steel industry no doubt is the bedrock of any country’s industrialisation, but today it’s the least on the development index of our country. According to media reports over the last two years, the Federal Government opted to concession the Ajaokuta Steel Plant, National Iron Ore Mining Company, Itakpe to an Indian Company, Global Steel/Global Infrastructure (Nigeria) Limited, an affiliate of ISPAT Industries of India, a conglomerate with five decades of character certification in Steel business with capacity to produce 14 million tones of steel and related products annually and operating in seven countries of the world.

Of all these takeovers and concessions, the case of Ajaokuta and Itakpe has elicited a lot of passion and criticism from the public. If what we have read and heard from comments of people who have had the privileged of visiting Delta Steel Plant is put into context, it is obvious that the Nigerian steel industry, hitherto described as the bottomless pit or museum, have come back to life. The entire plant facilities of Delta Steel are fully functional now, and producing.

While I appreciate the ‘frustration’ of Nigerians that we as a nation are not yet there as far as steel is concerned, it is my belief that, for Nigeria to grow its industries and economy, we should learn to encourage investors that have shown uncommon courage in daring into sectors that we have collectively failed to bring on stream over the last three decades.

Between Ajaokuta, Delta and Itakpe, I understand that the wage bill for the Nigerian staff alone is over N300Million per month. This is money paid by an individual investor and not Government. This has been going on since 2005 when Global Steel came into Nigeria. Schools, Hospitals, electricity and other welfare packages is said to be provided by this investor at great cost.

This is aside indirect employment in the area of transportation of materials such as Billets and the finished products to and from these plants, the mama puts, the GSM people, the scrap business for Delta Steel are things that have positively impacted on the various communities around these places and the nation’s economy. Politics is a vehicle that carries the will of a people, but economy is the life wire of the people, so let us look at these investors in all the sectors of our economy from economic perspective rather than from the political perspective.

This way, we will come to appreciate the fact that, Nigeria of today needs a private sector driven economy rather than government. Let the National Assembly and indeed the Yar’Adua Government look at the economic impact of Global Steels’ foray into the Nigerian steel sector and not the politics of how they got here. They are here, they are providing the country with the needed vehicle for employment generation and they should be encouraged if Nigeria is to develop its metal and steel sector.