Russian-Nigerian Ajaokuta Steel Project Can Revolutionize Nigerian Economy - Ambassador

A possible resuscitation of the Ajaokuta steel project, which is one of the major sign posts of Russian-Nigerian relations, will revolutionize the Nigerian economy, Nigerian Ambassador to Moscow Abdullahi Shehu told Sputnik in his first interview since taking office

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2021) A possible resuscitation of the Ajaokuta steel project, which is one of the major sign posts of Russian-Nigerian relations, will revolutionize the Nigerian economy, Nigerian Ambassador to Moscow Abdullahi Shehu told Sputnik in his first interview since taking office.

"Oh we anticipate that the company will be of tremendous impact and revolution arising the Nigerian economy. Steel is the foundation of any industrialization process and if a country is able to achieve sufficiency in steel development, I think it is a long way to achieving industrialization, so our expectation is really high that if we are able to fix that company it will really help in several ways," the diplomat said.

The ambassador added that Abuja is ready to support Russian entrepreneurship and urged the country's companies to consider Nigeria as a possible platform for doing business.

"We will support any business enterprise that is interested in doing business into Nigeria," Shehu said.

The project of the Ajaokuta steel company started 40 years ago. About 95% of the construction were completed, when the project was frozen. During the 2019 Russia-Africa Summit Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to assist Nigeria to resuscitate the steel complex through a government-to-government agreement.

The Russian TyazhPromExport will conduct a technical assessment of the Ajaokuta Steel Company to determine the level of work remaining. A 60-man team from Russia is expected to arrive in Nigeria for the assessment in 2022.