There is no doubt
that Nigeria is now at a critical crossroad concerning her economy.
Noisy discussions have continued to remind us about the enormous wealth
in the country, which until now has remained untapped or tapped in an
unserious manner. Nigeria is blessed with solid mineral resources, which
have not been explored in ways that had been anticipated. Iron ore
remains one of such sources of national wealth, but past administrations
did not take full advantage of its rich potentials as a building block
for industrialisation.
Structures built
for the purpose of extracting and processing Iron Ore are today
abandoned with disused, dilapidated buildings and rusty equipment to
show for it. I speak specifically about the Nigerian Iron Ore Mining
Company (NIOMCO) in Itakpe, and the abandoned Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail link.
These two edifices located in Kogi State now lie in shambles; the
sobriquet "Land of Mining", virtually meaningless. The vision of the
rail link was for the steel plant in Ajaokuta to be connected to its
supplier of Iron Ore, in Itakpe. A drive past the rail link station
reveals that right now that laudable vision is off-track, but I hope not
permanently.
My concern for the
untapped iron ore resources in Itakpe, Kogi State are written from the
perspective that my State, Kogi, like many other states, suffers from
high rates of youth unemployment. Can we imagine what impact the revival
of economic and commercial activities would have, if NIOMCO and
Ajaokuta Steel Complex also in Kogi State, roll back into life to
reignite the dream of Nigeria becoming a force in the global iron and
steel sector? The Steel sector is the heartbeat of any national
development plan for industrialization.(THE GUARDIAN)
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