Engineers seek improved effort to revamp moribund steel industry

Professionals under the umbrella of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) have advised the Federal Government to accelerate efforts at revamping the nation’s moribund steel sector.

According to them, without a virile steel industry, it will be difficult to revitalise the production and manufacturing of some critical products.

NSE President, Margaret Oguntala, who stated this at a media parley held virtually and physically, lauded the Federal Government for taking concrete steps towards revamping the Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi state.

He further urged its speedy completion to boost the economy. The Ajaokuta Steel, Oguntala said, other steel firms like Aladja Steel in Delta, as well as the Steel Rolling Mill in Oshogbo, Osun State, should be revamped by the government. Oguntala commended the government for the inclusion of local engineers in the revitalisation of moribund infrastructure and firms.

“The government has taken some steps to resuscitate and revamp the Ajaokuta steel company. We received an invitation from the Ministry of Steel Development to join the task team for the revamping. We also received an invitation from one of the consultants that they are using, who also felt that NSE should be part of it.’’

“We nominated some of our members, those who are experts in that field. We have one of them who retired from Ajaokuta Steel Company as a director, who has a lot of knowledge. And we have received feedback that this member of ours is doing well.

“The government has responded to that call to revamp the steel industry. As rightly observed, unless we have the Ajaokuta Steel Company up and running, and maybe Delta Steel, Aladja and Oshogbo Steel Rolling Mills, we cannot revamp the manufacturing sector,” Oguntala said.

The NSE President further called for transparency in the recent increase in electricity tariff, advising the authorities to ensure an effective sanctions framework, minimum time for fault repairs, accessible customer service applications, and a reliable metering scheme. She said the Federal Government has done well in patronage of local engineers, but said a lot more needs to be done.

Speaking on efforts to improve the engineering profession, she explained that NSE was running on five strong pillars as its strategic agenda for the two-year tenure, which include membership development, improving inter-governmental, industry and academia collaboration to deepen growth.