The Federal Government will halt the importation of petroleum products into the country in the year 2018.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, gave this hint in Ilorin, Kwara State, when he paid a pre-commissioning visit to the Steel Cold Rolling Complex of Kam Industries Limited.

 

According to him, a minimum of about $14 billion has been committed to the petrochemical sector by foreign and local investors the like 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.

 

"We have close to at least two million metric tonnes of reserve of iron ore; we are the 12thlargest in the world and the 2ndlargest 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," he said.

 

Aganga disclosed 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 want 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," he assured.

 

He said that the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP, had taken care of most of the concerns of operators, noting that positive results were already being recorded, especially in terms of enhanced capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector.

 

"We are almost there. We have consulted with you and other stakeholders in the industry. You have all contributed to the new measures and we are working on that already. The NIRP focuses on the enablers. One of the enablers, of course, is to make sure that we have affordable finance to support the industries.

 

Earlier in her welcome address, the company's Deputy Managing Director, Bolanle Yusuf, disclosed that the production of hot rolled steel coils which is 100 per cent imported into the country was the company's next phase of backward integration.

 

 

Source : ALL AFRICA