Planning investment programme in the Nigerian iron and steel industry

The iron and steel industry has been acknowledged as the critical pivot on
which the industrial and technological development of any nation liinges. Nigeria's
quest for the establishment of a metallurgical complex dates back to 1958.
Protracted geo-ethnic wrangling and bureaucratie setbacks, however, delayed its takeoff
for over two decades. It was, not until the early 1980s that the steel industry
really began to take shape. Despite huge government investment of over U.S. $10
billion, the Nigeria iron and steel industry is yet to make an appreciable impact on
the econorny. The industry is currently bedevilled by gross inefficiencies in its
operations as reflected in very low levels of capacity utilization, high dependence
on irnported inputs and other consumables, uncompetitive production costs and weak
linkages with other sectors of the economy.
Against this background and the need to avoid past inefficiencies, this study
evaluates the least cost investment, production and tracte strategy for the steel
inclustry over a planning horizon which spans 1993 to 2001. The specific objectives
of this study include planning the scale, location, choice of technology, time-phasing
and procluct mix of major investment projects to be undertaken in the Nigerian iron
and steel industry between 1993 and 2001; examining the issues of project viability,
market efficiency and project profitability in the context of both the domestic and