THE minister of state for steel development, Uba Maigari Ahmadu, has said that over 48,000 Nigerian youths registered for a boot camp programme being organised by the ministry as part of measures to address unemployment in the country.

Ahmadu stated this while speaking on the government’s plans to resuscitate the Ajaokuta Steel Plant and what the ministry had done to support industrialisation in the past year.

“It will surprise you to know that as we speak, over 48,000 Nigerians have registered for this programme. We just have space for 700.

“We intend to go back to the council to plead for more space to accommodate them,” the minister said on Monday, October 14, on Channels TV’s Morning Brief.

Nigeria Labour Force Survey puts the unemployment rate at 5.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, rising from 5.0 per cent in the third quarter of 2023.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) adopted a new methodology in the calculation of unemployment figures in the first quarter of 2023.

The statistics office’s new method of calculating the country’s unemployment rate dropped the figure to 4.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, from 33.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Industry experts have, however, faulted the new methodology as it is not a true reflection of the country’s unemployment rates.

In a recent conversation at the second edition of the National MSME Conference on Thursday, October 3, in Abuja, President Bola Tinubu defended the growing unemployment rate primarily on population growth.

His position is that the increase in population has not been matched by a corresponding rise in service providers and job opportunities, creating a significant gap between the number of people seeking employment and available positions.

Responding to questions on Monday, the minister for steel development said the ministry had opened an application for 700 Nigerian youths between the ages of 18 to 40 to apply for a 30-day boot camp training, where they would be opened to the practical aspect of welding and the business side of it.

The training is scheduled to be held at the Metallurgical Training Institute in Onitsha, Anambra Sta.

He hinted that the ministry had intended to train 10,000 Nigerian youths, but for budgetary constraints,, it reduced it to 1,000, which was subsequently slashed to 700 by the Senate.

“What we intend to do is to train people who are beginning to learn the trade and those who are interested in learning the welding trade.

“The training covers metal fabrications, foundries and mechanical maintenance, metallurgical and things around it,” the minister stated.

He expressed optimism that at the end of the training, the ministry would have taken 700 young Nigerians off the job market.

Revamping moribund Ajaokuta Steel Plant

Shedding light on the Ajaokuta Steel Plant, which he noted did not fall within his purview, the minister highlighted that the administration of President Bola Tinubu had commissioned firms to see to the revamping of the age-long dilapidated plant.

He noted that experts from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) had taken stock of defects in the steel company to proffer suggestions and a roadmap on cost-effective ways of getting the plant back on track.

“The much I can tell you is that that report has been submitted to Mr President. I can’t tell you the details of the report but I can guarantee Nigerians that we are on the issue and we are looking at the best way out of the situation.

“Yes, Ajaokuta has now been working optimally for a very long time but we are getting all the basis. Nobody is happy with where Ajaokuta is. We are not blaming anybody; we are not passing the buck; we are addressing the issues,” he said.

He added that it was Tinubu’s prerogative to do due diligence on the report and subsequently bring it to the federation executive council.

The minister, however, declined to hint at the timeline the steel company could be up and running.

Ahmadu added that the National Iron Ore Mining Company, the raw material segment of the business, was also in the pipeline for resuscitation as the Ajaokuta plant could produce steel without the raw materials.

“Whatever attention is being paid to Ajaokuta is also paid to the iron ore mining company because that is where the raw materials for the production of steel are sourced.

“Everything is being done on both of them to make sure that they are up again,” Ahmadu maintained.

The ICIR reports that the minister of steel development had in December 2023 requested N35 billion from financial institutions to revive the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company.

The collaboration with financial institutions was to seek the best financing options to re-start the light Steel Mill in Ajaokuta and kick-start iron rod production.

Greenhouse initiative

According to Ahmadu, the government intends to partner with four indigenous steel manufacturing companies to recover 3,000 abandoned vessels within Nigerian waters from Lagos to Bayelsa states.

He did not reveal the companies’ names but said, “We will partner with them; we will break the ships down to scraps and we convert them to greenhouses.

“When we produce this, we are targeting 100,000 pieces for the pilots, located in clusters around city centres to save our people from being kidnapped from the bushes and the farms in the hinterland.”

He said the initiative would impact food security.