The Nigerian government and India Rashmi Metaliks signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a US$1 billion steel industry investment to help rebuild the local steel industry and reduce steel product imports.

This is the biggest investment plan for Nigeria in recent years. The investment is set to be completed in 3 years, aiming to attract foreign investments and enhance the added value of the local mineral resources. Nigeria hopes to follow India’s steel supply chain, which covers the upstream DRI raw material down to ductile iron tube.

Nigeria has been attracting more than US$2.2 billion in foreign investment, with 3 billion tons of iron ore reserves, some of which are high-quality ore with more than 67% iron content. Demand for steel annually is more than US$10 billion, and the Nigerian government is aiming to build the main steel manufacturing center in Africa with a 10 million tons capacity by 2030.