The Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, Friday said that the National Metallurgical Development Centre (NMDC) Jos, Plateau State was not just a historical asset, but a strategic research engine for the nation’s steel industry growth and development.
Audu also reiterated the federal government’s commitment to improving the country’s economy and grow the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through the steel industry.
He noted that the sector could only be kept in position to serve its manifold purposes through determined searching and probing that would lead to discovery and improved products and services.
The minister gave the hint during his on-the-spot assessment of the National Metallurgical Development Centre in order to ascertain its challenges and opportunities.
Audu, who was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Mary Ogbe, opined that no nation could attain greatness without the development of its steel industry, adding that pivotal to the development of the steel industry is research.
He was of the opinion that the Centre’s mandate to offer research and development inputs necessary for the development of the mining, minerals and allied sectors, with specific focus on the steel industry in Nigeria was very strategic,
The minister pointed out that the center was one of its kind in the West African sub-region with integrated facilities to carry out mineral evaluation, metallurgical processes, adaptation and improvement, mineral and metal testing and environmental pollution studies.
Audi stressed: “The center has the capacity to proactively support the growth of the nation’s economy by developing local capacities along the mineral value chain activities, given the right impetus.”
“Research & Development of NMDC activities will be geared towards the domestication of research findings into productive Small and Medium Scale ventures. SMEs are the micro drivers of the economy and going forward, the Centre shall undertake targeted research projects that aims to solve existing industry needs, so as to enable us utilize locally, the various metallurgical raw materials that Nigeria is endowed with.”
In her remarks, Ogbe enjoined the staff to be disciplined and adhere to rules in the discharge of their duties and ensure they work as a team to promote the National Metallurgical Development Centre for optimal productivity.
Earlier, the Director General of the Centre, Prof. Linus Asuquo, said that without research, steel can not roll.
Asuquo, however, said that with the leadership of the ministers and Permanent Secretary, the agency would become a centre of excellence in minerals and metals research that will be at par with other steel research centres in the world.