Russia, Nigeria mull joint finishing of Ajaokuta steel plant

MOSCOW, Oct 11 (PRIME) -- Russia and Nigeria are discussing joint finishing of construction of Africa’s largest steel plant Ajaokuta, Nigerian ambassador to Russia Steve Davies Ugbah told PRIME on Friday.

“The president (of Nigeria) will come to Russia with a large delegation (on October 23–24)…they will consider singing contracts in different spheres, including mineral production, infrastructure development, contracts in the oil, gas, agricultural spheres, and so on. We also expect that security issues will be discussed at the government level. We have an agreement on military and technical cooperation, both sides should ratify it,” he said.

“Besides that, there are negotiations on finishing construction of the Ajaokuta steel plant, which was launched a long time ago with the help of the USSR. It is the largest steel production in Africa. We want Russia to return and help us finish construction of the plant.”

Nigeria also wants aluminum giant UC RUSAL to cooperate in aluminum production with ALSCON. “There is also a project for construction of a metallurgical plant that was launched during the Soviet times by Tyazhpromexport company. We expect contracts to be signed on these projects, but negotiations are going on and no final decision has been made,” he said.

Projected capacity of the Ajaokuta plant stands at 5 million tonnes of steel per year. Tyazhromexport started building the plant in 1979, but suspended construction in the early 1990s due to political instability and problems with financing.

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