Solid Minerals
Ajaokuta Steel Coy to commence operations with completed units
AJAOKUTA – The Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd., in Kogi, has entered into partnership with a consortium of investors to reactivate and operate completed units of the steel plant.
The Sole Administrator of the company, Mr Joseph Isah, made the announcement in Ajaokuta on Saturday when the executive members of the Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, paid a visit to the company.
Isah said that the project had attained 98 per cent completion, advising Nigerians not to canvass for its sale “at scrap value”.
He said that some of the completed units of the steel plant could be reactivated and operated commercially.
“As an integrated steel plant with series of completed units, some of which can be operated commercially, we are currently going into partnerships with a number of investors to reactivate them.
“Such completed units include the engineering works, light section mill, wire rod mill, thermal power plant and the Metallurgical Training Centre, MTC, among others.”
He said that the company had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Messrs Reprome Nigeria Ltd. for sourcing of spares and technical assistance.
The administrator said that the company had also signed another MOU with the Industrial Training Fund for training and manpower development.
According to him, this is in line with the National Industrial Skill Development Programme of the Federal Government to train 1000 trainees in each state.
Isah who described the Ajaokuta Steel Company as the “bedrock of Nigeria’s industrialisation” attributed the woes of the company to Western conspiracy and indigenous collusion.
He said that some leaders in government were ignorant of the potential of the company, urging journalists to give the steel company the needed publicity.
Earlier, The Chairman of Kogi State NUJ, Malam Ali Atabor, said that people generally believed that the company had failed, but that the visit of the NUJ members had proved the contrary.
The chairman urged Nigerian leaders not to succumb to western propaganda to stifle the country’s industrialisation, advising the leaders to take the completion of the steel project seriously.
Atabor urged the management to revive the MTC for the training of manpower.
He commended the vision and focus of the company’s leadership to turn it around. – SWEETCRUDE
Business
Nigeria set to boost Naira value and foreign reserve with local gold production, as Tinubu receives gold bar
IN a significant move to strengthen Nigeria’s economy, President Bola Tinubu received a symbolic gold bar on Sunday from the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake.
This gesture marks the commencement of the National Gold Purchase Program (NGPP), aimed at boosting the naira’s value and enhancing the country’s foreign reserves.
Minister Alake expressed gratitude to President Tinubu for his support of reforms in the solid minerals sector.
He highlighted that the NGPP, which involves sourcing gold from artisanal and small-scale miners and refining it to meet the London Bullion Market Association’s Good Delivery Standard, will substantially contribute to Nigeria’s economic stability.
Alake stated “This initiative will significantly increase our foreign reserves and strengthen the naira. The refined gold will be supplied to the Central Bank of Nigeria, marking a crucial step in our economic strategy.”
The presentation also underscored the first commercial transaction under the NGPP, establishing a centralized gold purchasing system that integrates small-scale miners, cooperatives, and production units across the nation.
This program is expected to provide a structured market for gold, fostering economic growth and stability.
He said, “The successful completion of the first commercial transaction clearly demonstrates the National Gold Purchase Program’s effectiveness. It has increased the nation’s foreign reserves assets and shown that using the Nigerian Naira to purchase a liquid asset traded in United States Dollars, such as gold, is a viable strategy. This transaction has also underscored the potential of the National Gold Purchase Program to enhance fiscal and monetary stability.”
Alake added that the initial commercial transaction under the program resulted in a +US$5 million boost in Nigeria’s foreign reserve assets.
The transaction involved refining over 70 kilograms of gold to meet the London Bullion Market quality standard and aggregating locally mined gold, thereby infusing approximately NGN6 billion into the rural economy.
President Tinubu expressed appreciation for the Ministry’s accomplishment in advancing the government’s goal of economic diversification by acknowledging and displaying the symbolic gold bar
Solid Minerals
FG Fingers Foreigners Sponsoring Banditry For Illegal Mining
The Nigerian Government has threatened to come down heavily on foreigners sponsoring bandictory as a way of sustaining illegal mining activities in parts of the country.
The warning was handed down in Abuja by Minister, Solid Minerals Development, Dr Oladele Alake, while receiving a delegation of the Nigeria-China Chamber of Mines led by its National President, Dr. Olugbenga Ajala.
Details of these were contained in a statement released by Head, Press & PR, Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Alaba Balogun over the weekend.
The statement cited, Dr Alake, thus, “The government will come down firmly on these unscrupulous foreign operators sponsoring banditry to perpetrate illegal mining: let me use this medium to appeal through you to tell those sponsors to desist or face the full wrath of the law.”
According to Dr Alake, the Ministry is committed to establishing a multi-agency task force that will end the activities of illegal miners and their collaborators.
The Minster made it clear that the FG had given illegal miners a 30-day-ultimatum to legitimise their businesses, quit Nigeria or incur the wrath of the law.
According to him, this will help “to streamline and structure the Small-Scale Artisanal Miners for maximum yield to the Federal Government.”
The delegation paid a courtesy call on the Minsiter at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
Energy
Fuel Scarcity: Govt Yet to Increase Pump Prices – NMDPRA
By Edozie Obasi-Eze
Amidst heightening uncertainties in the domestic petroleum products market characterised by scarcity and irregular pricing, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has declared that there’s no intention to review pump prices upwards.
This was contained in an advisory issued by General Manager, Corporate Communications, NMDPRA, Kimchi Apollo.
He stated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) had imported PMS with current stock levels sufficient for 34 days.
In an attempt to address panic buying and speculations which have seen price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) oscillate between N180-N250 in the Lagos area, Apollo assured that there was enough quantity of the product in the country already.
He said, “Consequently, marketers and the general public are advised to avoid panic buying, diversion of products and hoarding.
“In keeping with the Authority’s responsibilities as outlined in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Authority assures the public that it would continue to monitor the supply and distribution of petroleum products nationwide, especially during this holiday season.”