Russian Metprom will revive Nigerian Ajaokuta Steel Co

Russia could give birth to the new largest steel plant in Nigeria after decades of inactivity. Mining and Steel Development Minister Olamilekan Adegbit said that “The Russian engineering and construction group MetProm will undertake the necessary work to commission the facility, financed by the state-owned Russian Export Center and the Cairo African Export-Import Bank. We realized that it’s best to go back to the guys who did it in the first place. ”

He said: “Both governments plan to complete the deal by January, after which it will take a maximum of two years to complete the blast furnace, which will be a key component of the plant that turns the internal iron ore into liquid steel,” Adegbit said. While this work is underway, they are considering whether to launch some of Ajaokuta's smaller manufacturing plants using imported steel billets. ”

Construction of Ajaokuta Steel Co began in 1979 with the assistance of the then Soviet Union, but the plant never started production and absorbed $ 8 billion in government money. Repeated attempts to revive the flagship project by transferring it to private investors were unsuccessful, and the government stopped making concessions.