The Minister of Steel Development, SHUAIBU AUDU has said the Federal Government plans to start the production of military hardware in Ajaokuta Steel Mill.

The minister said he has been working closely with his counterparts in the Ministries of Defence and Works to perfect plans for the steel plant which has been moribund for many years to start the production of iron rods and military hardware.

The Ajaokuta Steel Mill, which is a massive project built over 40 years ago, has been mismanaged by successive governments and has been unable to fully take off as expected.

AUDU identified lack of political will as one of the major reasons why the Ajaokuta Steel Mill has not functioned for over 40 years.

However, the minister said that the current administration is committed to revitalising the light steel mill of the steel complex to be able to produce iron rods.

According to him, it will cost between two to five billion dollars to revamp the entire complex based on the estimate by experts, with the light steel mill section costing about 35 billion naira.

The minister also disclosed that President BOLA TINUBU gave him approval to raise money locally to revive the light steel mill section of the steel plant.