Princewill Demian
11 April 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja – One of Nigeria’s foremost industrialists and chief executive officer of BUA Group, Mr. Abdulsamad Rabiu, has posited that Nigeria could save up to 3 billion US Dollars annually in foreign exchange on steel, if the government could tow the same line it went with the sugar and cement industries on steel.
He said Nigeria had all the basic ingredients for the steel industry to thrive, such as limestone, coal and gas, adding that all the country needed to do was invest the money it spent on steel importation towards producing its own steel.
Rabiu, who stated this during the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, noted that Africa had the highest unemployment rate in the world despite having large populations and robust economies.
Rabiu called for a government-private sector partnership aimed at developing and transforming the continent through the provision of more jobs and scaling up of human capital.
“Africa probably has the highest rate of unemployment in the world, so we need to do a lot more to create jobs; build human capital to develop the continent.
“I think there is need to have a concrete and solid partnership between Africa government and the private sector and in so doing we can be able to transform the continent.
“Nigeria now has the capacity for over 40 million tonnes of cement and we are saving the country over USD$4 billion and we are creating hundred thousands of jobs,” Rabiu added.
