Building local capabilities in the Nigerian metals industry by Nelson Obinna Omenugha M.Sc, M.A.

Introduction:
The need for resource-endowed Nigeria to shoulder control of the exploration, exploitation and production activities in the Power and Steel sector of the Economy and to harness the potentials of this most strategic industry in order to generate more value-added, apparently seems to be receiving much desired attention from all the stakeholders.
This need is equally expressed in Nigeria’s desire to domicile a substantial amount of effort and resources towards revamping the Technical and Vocational Education in Schools.
For a country whose endowed Iron ore accounts for an average of 30 - 35 per cent purity, her inability to use local resource wealth as a means for national development and poverty reduction has perhaps been the ultimate challenge confronting successive administrations. This implies that the Steel industry has not been properly utilized to raise and accommodate the required huge manpower needed to run an iron ore refinery (beautification plant), ultimately to enhance the value of the ore, create employment and diversify our Economy. As a Nation naturally endowed with good coal, natural gas, limestone, clay, magnesium and then not far from Guinea Conakry and Liberia, we can easily use our ECOWAS integration spirit to get higher grade iron ore to augment our local production, train local human resource and boast our metal industry.

These challenges have their expression in how Nigeria can derive maximum benefits from Metal industry through optimal use of local competences and resources as practiced in countries like Turkey, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Brazil, Norway and Venezuela.
These countries have been able to lift their economies away from third world poverty and starvation, and utterly threatening the developed countries of the world in economic wellbeing for their people. The metal projects in all these countries started as serious national projects, with their Governments taking active interest in the steel development.
For instance, huge oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Libya, Venezuela, Indonesia and Mexico have also deemed it fit to develop viable steel industries. In Nigeria, we have continued to depend solely on crude oil and literally refused to diversify our economy despite numerous natural resources at our disposal. As a monolithic economy with strong dependence on the oil sector, our economy is apparently vulnerable to external manipulation and negatively affects the planning horizons; including ability to build local capacities and enhance local contents in different sector of the economy.
A case in focus is Egypt; which produces about 4% of the total world iron and steel output. Iran produces about 5-6%, Pakistan and India have moved up on the chart, while China, Australia, Canada, South Korea, USA, Russia are the big steel power countries.
Clearly, No nation can flex its muscle or display her strength of influence when she has no steel production competency and capacity. To express the veracity of this claim, Japan that has no iron ore imports iron ore from Brazil, Peru and Australia, and today Japan is a steel nation because they produce steel on their own. Further, Great Britain, France, Germany, all developed on iron and coal. One will recall that the industrial revolution of Britain and France was based on iron and coal. Canada has about 4 billion metric tonnes of iron ore deposit as the largest endowed nation in the world and next door to the United States of America which has the number one steel complex in the world; Bethlehem Steel.
Currently, China BAO Steel is taking advantage of the phenomenal growth to become the number one steel company in the world as they are now the largest iron ore importer and producer in the world. POSCO of South Korea is the third largest steel complex in the world, importing iron ore from Australia, Brazil, Peru and any other source that is competitively cheap for them to import.
Obviously, in undertaking the exploration and production of steel, these countries have largely recorded remarkable success; particularly in their efforts to build local capacities; ultimately growing the local content in this strategic industry.
The question is: why has Nigeria been unable to surmount her own challenges?
Conclusion:
The import of local capacities building is huge and one of immense impact on any Economy. Research has ultimately shown that building local capacities remain the core antidote for revamping a compromised and underutilized sector such as Metal and Steel Industry.
Global competition and fundamental rise in demand for Metal commodities has further necessitated the need for quality and adequate manpower to the sector. Of course, this is in addition to the cost intensive nature and high cost of importing foreign resource to the industry.
Government and all stakeholders must drive this process of developing skills in the mining and steel sector; to ultimately meet with demand for professionals in this strategic industry.

Nelson Omenugha, former President of the Students’ Union, UNIZIK, Awka is a development and marketing communication strategist. He writes from Abuja.