vanguardngr reported that Ajaokuta Steel Company was a big dream, and Mr Noel Onoja remembers with nostalgia the splendor of the complex, and the dream that it had the potential to place the country on the path of international industrial development. But the disappointment came as the huge complex has been left moribund for a long time to the detriment of national development.
He writes that "I was disappointed because such a multi-billionaire complex has remained a still-birth since conception, a company that would have hitherto placed Nigeria in the league of industrialised nations and not leaving Kogi state out as the most industrialised state in sub-Saharan Africa. I was disappointed because Nigeria has been its own biggest undoing; I was disappointed every time I travelled en-route Ajaokuta for the period of my university studies."
He added even though government has made some few strides in developing and setting up the exploration sector, there is yet to be seen commitment in reforming the nation's economy through steel resources and like Ajaokuta, many other economic catalyst from the steel sub- sector are still left unharnessed; in this write up also, we will look at a few steel raw materials reserves around the country and also the agency of government saddled with the responsibility of exploring Nigeria's iron and steel industry.
The National Steel Raw Material Exploration Agency, was established by Decree 19 of 1971 as the Exploration and Mining Division of the defunct Nigerian Steel Development Authority, and later made a corporate body by decree 49 of 1992 with the mandate to explore for steel raw materials comprising iron ore, coal, ferroalloy materials and refractory clays for the Nigerian iron and steel industry.
NSRMEA's exploration results arising from its activities over the years contributed in arriving at the decision to establish Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited, the Integrated Delta Steel Plant, National Iron Ore Mining Company, Itakpe, several Cement Plants and other mineral based industries in Nigeria and an agency currently under the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.
After more than forty years , the agency has garnered a pool of experience, manpower and equipment capable of carrying out detailed exploration of several other mineral resources in addition to those required for making steel; this capability makes it possible for the agency to carry out detailed mineral resources evaluation to generate geo-sciences data required to establish reliable mineral reserves figures, essential for producing bankable feasibility study reports, a vital requirement for accessing several project financing schemes and it is hoped that this activity will fill the exploration gap that has so far prevented most exploration licenses from transforming into mining leases through to producing mines.
The steel and mining sector have the potentials of turning around the economic fortune of any country, if adequate attention is given to it, even though the needed attention has not been accorded the steel and mining sector in Nigeria, it was recorded that in 2011, the sector through support and funding from the World Bank, generated about N1.4 billion in income revenue to the Federal Government through its Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources Project.
The current administration has continued in its effort to revamp the sector and in an attempt to diversify the nation's economy through solid mineral exploitation, engaged the services of professionals with proven track-records; most recently is with Energio Limited, an Australian firm operating in Nigeria by the name KCM Mining Limited at the Australian Stock Exchange, with an initial establishment of an inferred iron ore reserves of 448million tones, evaluated from an initial drilling works over 14km square in Agbaja, Kogi State covering less than 10% of its tenement area, the firm has announced plans to carry out further drilling and tests aimed at facilitating mine plan, design and development.
