The Senate has called on the federal government to urgently put machinery in place to revive the Ajaokuta Steel Company. The Senate said that the move will create employment for local craft men, physically challenged at home and abroad and professionals in all fields.
The Senate also advised the federal government to commence the immediate rehabilitation of rail line and dredging of the water ways linking Ajaokuta.
The chamber also mandated its committee on power and steel development to henceforth undertake a holistic investigation of the reasons Ajaokuta Steel Company and other steel plants in Nigeria that are not operational and consequently advance recommendations for their effective take-off.
According to Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West), who moved the motion, the country has in the past nine years spent whopping a N2.1 trillion to import steel into the country. While lamenting that the steel sector spends over N500 billion annually on steel importation, Melaye said if the steel sector is revived, it will have the capacity to rival the oil sector.
He lamented that despite the huge sums expended on the steel sector in less than a decade, the sector has continued to be bedevilled by multifarious challenges. [myad]
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