Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — A call has been made to the Federal Government to fix the country’s steel industry in order to reduce capital flight in the oil and gas sector, incurred through importation of steel.
An engineering, procurement, construction and installation firm, MGVowgas Limited, made the call, explaining that all projects in the oil and gas industry involved fabrication of steel.
The Group Managing Director of MGVowgas, Mr Godwin Izomor, made the call during a stakeholders’ tour to his fabrication yard in Port Harcourt as part of activities for the 9th Practical Nigerian Content and Exhibition Conference.
He regretted that every steel used in the country was imported from Europe and Asia, which amounted to huge capital flight and loss of income for the country.
Izomor advocated that every necessary support needed should be given to the recent agreement entered between Russia and Nigeria for the completion and commencement of production in Ajaokuta Steel Company.
According to him, “We must reduce capital flight from Nigeria. We made so much money but we import almost everything.
“We must appeal to the government; we are fabricating everything from steel. Every steel we use today is imported, either from China, Ukraine or from Germany. We can’t continue to import steel as a country, it’s a huge amount of loss for the country.
“The amount of money we spent in importing steel annually is enough to set up another steel company in Nigeria. So we must appeal to the Federal Government to ensure that in the next two years, Ajaokuta Steel Company is fixed to produce heavy sheet plate for our fabrication.”
The MGVowgas boss also announced that the company was currently fabricating a ballistic airboat for the Nigerian Defence headquarters, which according to him, would have a speed limit of 100km per hour.
