The Minister of State for Steel Development, Hon. Maigari Ahmadu has disclosed plans by the Ministry to combat the problem of food insecurity by building greenhouse farms using scrap metals from abandoned vessels across Nigeria’s waterways.
The Minister disclosed this during an interview on Channels TV program, Sunrise daily, while commenting on the recent national address by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He further stated that the plan will help combat insecurity in the country like banditry in the Northwest and other forms of insecurity in the Southeast.
He said, “We have a wonderful project called the vessel to grain house initiative from vessels abandoned from all territorial waters across the country from Lagos to Bayelsa. We are partnering with four indigenous steel companies- we want to recover these vessels and turn them into greenhouses. What do we intend to do with them, to locate them around city centres to produce crops that can be grown under greenhouses to contribute towards food security.”
“Especially in areas where we have issues- in the Southeast where we have issues with criminality and insurgency in the Northeast, banditry in the Northwest. That is a problem we are very confident will make significant impact in the lives of the people with regards to food security.”
Also, Hon. Ahmadu stated that contrary to public opinion, the Ajaokuta steel company is not moribund, but operates at a little capacity and in the next six months, there will be significant output from the company.
He also explained that the Ministry hopes to train 100,000 Nigerians on varies aspects of steel development, metallurgy at the Metallurgical Training Institute in Onitsha, Anambra state.
He said, “We cannot look away from Ajaokuta, it belongs to us, and we should be hopeful. Ajaokuta is not moribund like its often put out there. This same government has engaged professionals like AfDB and UNIDO to look at it and they have sent their report back to the President. In the not distant future maybe a month or two, we should be able to see something.”
The Ajaokuta Steel Mill, a multi-billion-dollar integrated steel plant established in the late 1970s and early 1980s, has faced numerous administrative setbacks hindering its operations.
The Federal Government recently announced plans to raise approximately N35 billion for the Ajaokuta Light Steel Mill by leveraging the local financial market. The Minister of Steel Development, Shuaibu Audu, has estimated that the cost of reviving the Ajaokuta steel mill will range between $2 billion and $5 billion.
