African Natural Resources and Mines Limited in Kaduna State has been charged to positively impact on the host communities by keeping is social responsibilities.
The Honourable Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite gave the charge when he visited the facilities of the African Natural Resources and Mines Limited in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State on December 23rd, 2019.
While extolling the N600 Billion Naira investment of the company in the steel industry, he called on the company to have harmonious relationship with its host communities by abiding by the Community Development Agreement (CDA) signed by both parties.
He said, “one of the most important factors of the federal government in developing the steel and mining sector, is that the communities must be carried along, right from the beginning because it is very important that the communities should be involved from the start”.
The Minister stressed that the communities must benefit as the company grows, in terms of employment, infrastructure and power generation.
Adegbite also stated that power generation is one of the things that should be encouraged since mining itself is power intensive. “Mining consume a lot of power, and of course the power that will be generated here from the excess should be extended to the host communities, if not totally free, it should be at a very subsidized rate,” he added.
The Minister said he was confident that African Natural Resources and Mines Limited always has the reputation to do the right thing and assured them of federal government support.
The managing Director, African Natural Resources and Mines Limited, Mr. Alok Gupta, in his remarks, said the company is the largest producer of steel in Nigeria, stating that the company’s annual production capacity is over 1.2 million tonnes of finished steel.
He said the 600 million US$ investment would be Nigeria’s biggest non-oil foreign direct investment, which he believed would serve as a catalyst for development of solid mineral sector by attracting other investors following the company’s example in downstream processing.
Gupta highlighted the key benefits of the project to include community development, social Infrastructure development, job creation, import substitution as well as significant contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) among others.
Earlier, the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, who was represented at the event by his Chief of Staff, Hon. Muhammad Abdullah, said the 600 million dollars project is a huge investment which is key to the development of the state and country at large.
He assured the company and the Ministry of the support of Kaduna State Government. He implored African Natural Resources and Mines Limited to ensure that the project benefits the citizens in respect of employment and industrialization for the development of the Nigerian economy.