News
How Uba Maigari Ahmadu is transforming Nigeria’s Metallurgical and Steel Sectors
By Abubakar Yerima
In a resounding testament to the commitment to revitalizing Nigeria’s metallurgical and steel sectors, Minister of State for Steel Development Uba Maigari Ahmadu has orchestrated a series of transformative initiatives aimed at driving economic growth, job creation, and poverty eradication.
Under his visionary leadership, the National Metallurgical Training Institute (NMTI) in Onitsha was established to create a pool of indigenous technical workforce that can erect, commission, operate and maintain the steel and allied industries all on their own, and drastically cut down on Nigeria’s dependence on foreign technical training; and to develop highly skilled, practical and production oriented low and middle-level skilled manpower who will effectively maintain the steel and allied sectors including oil and gas sectors of the economy is undergoing a remarkable reorientation and revival, with a strategic focus on training at least 100,000 individuals annually, with 35% being women, thus creating a skilled workforce to meet the industry’s demands and bolstering President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The Minister’s unwavering dedication has also extended to the revival of the National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency (NSRMEA) in Kaduna, positioning it as a geo-scientific information center for investors and researchers in the solid minerals sector. This strategic move has not only enhanced the agency’s capabilities but has also created an enabling environment for the exploration and development of Nigeria’s rich mineral resources, further reinforcing the nation’s position as an attractive destination for investment in the sector.
Crucially, these achievements have been made possible through the collective efforts of a well-trained, dedicated, and motivated workforce that is technologically driven and focused. Honourable Minister Uba Maigari Ahmadu’s emphasis on capacity building and the adoption of modern exploration techniques has been instrumental in positioning Nigeria as a hub for cutting-edge research and development in the metallurgical and steel sectors, thereby attracting significant interest from domestic and international stakeholders.
In a landmark development, the collaborative efforts of the Ministry of Steel Development and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) have culminated in the facilitation of a groundbreaking $300 million investment in the steel sector by Niger Extraction Company Ltd. This substantial investment not only underscores the confidence of the private sector in Nigeria’s steel industry but also heralds a new era of growth, innovation, and technological advancement in the sector.
Moreover, Mr. Uba Maigari Ahmadu’s multilayered policy approach inclusive of establishing a technical working relationship with the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology for the promotion of its welding policy and support for the Technology Innovation Centres across the country, the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) the Metallurgical Training Institute and the National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency are being rejigged and repositioned to carry out their core functions of providing high-quality training, promote research and development, offer consultancy services, enhance capacity building, and foster collaboration to support the growth, development, and sustainability of the metallurgical and mining sectors in Nigeria.
His proactive engagement with various stakeholders, both domestically and internationally, has been pivotal in promoting the steel sector and attracting much-needed foreign direct investment (FDI) to Nigeria. Through targeted outreach programs, industry roundtables, and investor forums, the Minister is effectively positioning Nigeria as a prime investment destination, fostering partnerships that are poised to drive sustainable economic development and prosperity in the country.
In furtherance to the above, the Minister is working on the optimization of revenues from the metals sector. This is because the contribution of this sector to the GDP has been very low due to low capacity utilization, underreporting of the contributions from the sector, as well as dumping of imported sub-standard metal products amongst other factors. A mechanism is being established to sensitize the MSMEs in the sector on proper reporting of their contributions.
He has scheduled a nationwide facility inspection to establish and address the root causes of low capacity utilization. The Minister is also synergizing with relevant stakeholders like the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) to curb the incidences of dumping of imported sub-standard metal products into the country to protect local producers. The overall target is to ensure that the sector records over 5% contribution to GDP before the end of the current administration.
As Nigeria’s metallurgical and steel sectors undergo a period of transformative change, the achievements of Honourable Minister Uba Maigari Ahmadu stand as a testament to the potential for sustainable growth and prosperity in the industry. With a renewed focus on collaboration, innovation, and investment, the Minister’s leadership has set the stage for a vibrant and competitive steel industry that holds promise for economic advancement and progress in Nigeria.
Abubakar Yerima is the Coordinating Special Adviser to the Honourable Minister of State for Steel Development.
Health
Medical Outreach: Prioritise Primary Health Care policies-Pastor Ikotun Urges Government
Joel Ajayi
Resident Pastor of the Elevation Church Abuja, Pastor Bowale Ikotun, has urged the government to establish more primary health care centre to strengthen its policies in various communities, to be able to attend to health emergencies in the community.
He made this call on Saturday during a free medical outreach, organised by the Elevation Church Abuja and PISTIS Foundation, known as UBOMI Project Abuja, which took place at Jabi Lake Park Abuja.
Pastor Ikotu, said that the purpose of organising the outreach is to meet the needs of the community and help residents acquire free medical services.
“We all know what is going on currently in Nigeria, where the cost of even Primary Health Care has gone up out of the reach of the common man, and so as a church, God has put in our hearts to be a blessing to our community”.
“So one of the ways in which we are a blessing to the community is to organize doctors, nurses within us and friends amongst us to come and do free medical consultation, most importantly in the primary health care area of health.”
He further urged other religious organisations, non governmental organisations to try to organise outreach that adds to the wellbeing of individuals in the community in order to support the government.
“The truth of the matter is that the government cannot do it alone, and that is why, we as a church, we are coming up to assist the Government in whatever way we can “.”So I encourage a lot of other religious organizations to be part and parcel of this”.
Head of partnership for the UBOMI Project Abuja Mr Davidson Amedu, said the Elevation Church Abuja is expressing the love of God through the UBOMI Project.
“We are partnering with Pistis Foundation, which is a registered organization under the Elevation Church to enable tye Church help people with medical solutions.
“We understand the health situation of the country. Not everybody right now can afford medical supplies. In fact, there is also a short supply of medical experts in the country right now, and the few that are available, very scarce, to even the average middle class person, talk more of the underserved and the underprivileged.”
“So we decided to bridge the gap to create such a project that intervenes, that steps in to give medical solutions, ranging from diagnosis to counseling to consultation to medical and pharmaceutical supplies itself, all for free. Nobody is paying a dime here”.
“This is our way of saying God loves you, God wants you to be well. Not everybody’s level is fit to the point where they can do without medicine, and saying I trust God for healing or divine health”.
“We pray for people, we administer healing, but we still believe that medicine has its role, place and position in humans life so we are able to help people move from wherever they are medically to a more balanced and more healthy disposition.”
He also expressed that this is the first edition of UBOMI Project in Abuja but it’s going to have other edition to come in the near future.
“The Elevation Church has its headquarters in Lagos, and we’ve donbe series of UBOMI Project editions, where we cater for 1000s of people.”
” In Lagos, we even do surgeries, we do major operations, but this is the first we are doing in Abuja, and it is not going to be the last, obviously, because we have seen that there is a gap.”
“There is a huge gap in even accessing medical supplies and medical solutions are even more expensive in abuja. So we want to be able to, deliver some of these solutions to people for free.”
“look out for more editions of this project across the Country and in other parts of Africa, we will do much more to the glory of God” he added.
Executive Director, Pistis Foundation, Mr Leanord F-Thomas, said that Ubomi Project is taking a hospital to a community, with medical experts, from different parts of the country and volunteers to serve for a certain period.
He said the UBOMI medical outreach is structured to work with social and governmental organisations to provide data of advocacy, preventive healthcare risk.
He further express that the data gathered enables them to know the highest cases of illness in the community and ways to prefer solutions to those cases.
“So those data are gathered, it helps us to know, for example, you know, how many cases of malaria in a certain community, how many cases of diabetes are in a certain community? Not only do we treat the cases during the outreach, we’re able to profile solutions”.
“So we are here to support whatever it is that the government has established to address the ills in society.”
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