Nigeria has concluded plans to set up a  military force hardware capacity and capabilities in Ajaokuta steel plant .

Minister of Steel Development Shuaibu Audu disclosed this after a closed door meeting with President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Defense, Mohammed Badaru at the State House, Abuja.

Audu stated that the plan was part of the outcome of the visit of both ministers to seek partnership with a Chinese steel development group in January 2024.

According to the Minister, the Chinese team will help Nigeria to build the military hardware capabilities in Ajaokuta, in one of the production units.

He added the the Chinese Steel group also made a commitment to set up a new steel plant in Nigeria, that would engender the creation of thousands of jobs and enable the group invest billions of dollars in foreign direct investments into Nigeria.

In a similar development Audu also disclosed that in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu,  the Ministry of steel is collaborating with the Ministry of works in driving plans to construct about 30,000 kilometres of roads across Nigeria, where about 7 million metric tons of iron will be required.

The Minister expressed optimism that about 400,000 tons of the required iron rods could be produced in Ajaokuta steel plant if the steel plant is revived.

He said that the first phase of the project to revive the entire Ajaokuta steel plant will cost between $2 million dollars to $5 million dollars while restarting the living steel section of the mill is billed to cost about N35 billion.

President Tinubu however approved for the money to be raised locally and that a committee be constituted to include some very critical stakeholders within the government to Kickstart the projects.

It is estimated that the projects including the revival of Ajaokuta steel plant, when completed will create not less than 500,000 jobs and generate billions of dollars into the economy.