Clinton Inene
The Federal Government has announced plan to halt the importation of petroleum products into the country in the year 2018.
Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, disclosed this in Ilorin, Kwara State, when he paid a pre-commissioning visit to the Steel Cold Rolling Complex of Kam Industries Limited.
The Minister said a minimum of about $14 billion has been committed to the petrochemical sector by foreign and local investors, including the likes of Indorama and Dangote, adding that hopefully by 2017/2018 the country would be self-sufficient and would no longer need to import petroleum products.
He revealed that his ministry is working with the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development on a joint memorandum to the Federal Executive Council on policies and measures that would help to develop the steel sector.
“We have close to at least two million metric tonnes of reserve of iron ore; we are the twelfth largest in the world and the second largest in Africa and all these steel you see here today, they come from iron ore. So we have no business importing steel into the country,” Aganga said.
He added that Nigeria wants to create an industrial zone around Kamwire Industries, so that there will be other industries around this area feeding it and getting things around it.
“We will make sure that for those industrial zones, you get all you need; you will get electricity, water supply and all the things you’ll need to function and be competitive,” the Minister said.
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