Nigeria signs $1bn MOU Iron Ore-to-Steel with China

Nigeria signs $1bn MOU Iron Ore-to-Steel with China

Abdullateef Fowewe

The Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with two Chinese companies, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and Sinomach-He, for a $1 billion (N1.6 trillion) iron ore-to-steel project in Kogi State.

The initiative according to a statement shared on Monday by President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, aims to promote local value addition in the solid minerals sector, marking a significant step in Nigeria’s drive towards industrialisation.

Alake, while addressing the promoters- Chart and Capstone Integrated Limited of Nigeria and Sinomach-He of China-on the sidelines of the visit of Tinubu to China in Beijing, pledged the cooperation of the Federal Government with the promoters to ensure the delivery of the project as fast as possible.

Alake in the statement said the Federal Government has reversed the pit-to-port policy under which mining companies exported raw minerals to extraction with local value addition which is the best guarantee of jobs for the youths, skills transfer and a better balance of trade between the country and her trading partners.

He noted that, to promote local value addition, he has announced that applicants for licences to mine must disclose plans for processing the raw minerals as part of the conditions for approval.

He said, “The trade balance between Nigeria and China is over one billion dollars in favour of China because the minerals imported from Nigeria are essentially in raw forms.

“Once Nigeria starts to export finished or semi-finished value-added mineral products to China and other trading partners, our balance of trade will be more favourable, and our foreign exchange earnings will improve.

“With aggressive local value addition and the revenue from it, the prospects of reducing our debt burden in the nearest future are possible.”