All Africa reported that Nigerian Federal Government at the weekend expressed worry over failure of those who acquired Inland Steel Rolling Mills during the privatization exercise to make them operational.
The affected firms are the Jos Steel Rolling Mill, now Zuma Steel West Africa Limited and the Oshogbo Steel Rolling Mill, now Kura Integrated Steel Mill Limited.
A statement by Mr Marshall Gundu spokesman of the Minister of Mines & Steel Development, said that Mr Musa Mohammed Sada the minister made the remark at in Abuja during a working visit by the President and members of the Council of Nigerian Metallurgical Society led by its chairman Mr Linus Asuquo.
Mr Sada said that "The Federal Government is not happy over the issue of the Inland Steel Rolling Mills that were privatized or sold that are not operating. It is not proper to acquire a company from government without operating it."
He said that the ministry would liaise with the Bureau for Public Enterprises and managements of the companies concerned to address the challenges militating against the functional operations of the mills.
Mr Sada told the council that government has put all arrangements in place to re operationalize the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and the National Iron Ore Mining Company. He added that he would liaise with the Minister of Petroleum Resources to handle the issue of regular and adequate supply of gas to facilitate the operations of stakeholders in the steel sector.
He also disclosed that the mandates of agencies in Nigeria's steel sector are to be streamlined for effective and efficient service delivery.
Two Federal Government agencies in the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development whose mandates are to be streamlined are the National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency, Kaduna, in Kaduna State and the National Metallurgical Development Centre, Jos, in Plateau State.
×
