Steel Industry
An indigenous automotive and structural steel engineering firm, Metal Mate Limited has stressed the need for government to restrict the importation of trucks, tankers and other steel materials from China.
Besides, the firm said the influx of steel bodied vehicles, such as trailers, Lorries and others has negatively impacted on the existence of the steel industry in the country.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Metal Mate Limited, Toyin Ibrahim, stated this while briefing journalists in Lagos on the company’s 25 years of successful operations.
Ibrahim said the nation’s steel industry would not grow to support the economy with the importation of substandard steel products into the country.
He said must restrict the importation of trucks, tankers and other steel materials from China through the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to ensure the growth of the industry adding that the auto policy was developed as a result of this but remarked that the auto policy did not work
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He stated that without steel, no country would survive, as development of any nation revolved round steel production.
“The body language of the government is like with time they will keep quiet. It is wrong; this government should be supporting the establishment of industries. All the notable industries are gone but if we have people doing these things, we should support them.
“Most of the tankers on our roads are imported and we have a lot of potential here in Nigeria. We welcome local competition because our people still rely on going abroad to get these things,” he said.
Ibrahim, who has trained over 35 apprentices as automotive/structure engineers since its inception 25 years ago, blamed government for unfavorable polices that hindered the growth of the steel sector and appealed to steel manufacturers to step up their production in order to meet the markets demands.
He called on government to establish industries in the country to engage jobless youths, explaining that competition would boost productivity in the steel business. “We see competitors as partners, a lot of Nigerian big men are greedy. Nigerian has the capacity to achieve a lot but greed has not allowed us to achieve a lot.”
Ibrahim said the company’s 25 anniversary would be used to reward its faithful customers since inception in appreciation for their unalloyed support to the company.
Source: G Business
