The Federal Government has moved to revive the long-dormant Delta Steel Company, with its current owners, Premium Steel and Mines Limited, committing more than $1.3bn to rehabilitate and modernise the plant and return it to commercial production within 18 to 24 months.

🇳🇬 Here's What Happened

The revival plan, which could create about 25,000 direct and indirect jobs, received a fresh boost on Thursday following the signing of a Sub-lease and Operations Agreement between the National Iron Ore Mining Company, Itakpe, and Premium Steel and Mines Limited.

The agreement is expected to address one of the major requirements for restarting the integrated steel plant: sustainable access to iron ore.

The development could mark a new attempt to resurrect one of Nigeria’s most ambitious industrial projects, which was commissioned in 1982 with an installed capacity of one million metric tonnes of liquid steel annually but later slipped into prolonged operational difficulties.

📌 Key Details

The plant, located in Ovwian-Aladja, Delta State, had operated at only about 25 per cent of its designed capacity before shutting down.

According to a statement released on Thursday by the Head of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Steel Development, Salamatu Jibaniya, read, “The Federal Ministry of Steel Development has signed an agreement aimed at facilitating the revival and full operationalisation of the Delta Steel Company, now known as Premium Steel and Mines Limited, Ovwian-Aladja, Delta State. The agreement marks a significant milestone in the Federal Government’s ongoing efforts to reposition Nigeria’s legacy steel industry assets as a critical driver of industrialisation, economic diversification, job creation and sustainable national development.”

The government had privatised the company to Global Infrastructure Holdings Limited in 2005 in an attempt to attract private capital and revive operations.

However, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria subsequently re-sold the company to Premium Steel and Mines Limited in 2015 in a bid to recover unserviceable debts.

Since then, the facility has remained inactive as an integrated steel plant.

Under the new arrangement, however, Premium Steel and Mines Limited is expected to invest more than $1.3bn in raw material exploration and exploitation, as well as the rehabilitation and modernisation of the steel complex.

📰 Source: Punch Nigeria