Ukrainian Ambassador to Nigeria pledges $ 1 billion investment to local authorities

Ukrainian Ambassador to Nigeria Valeriy Alexandruk announced Ukraine's readiness to invest one billion US dollars in the completion of the Ajaokuta metallurgical plant. This was reported by the Nigerian media with reference to the Bureau of State Enterprises.

Built at the end of the last century, the Nigerian steel plant was originally designed by the Research Institute "Kharkov StroypromNIIProekt". In 2007, the Ukrainian authorities raised the topic of the completion of Ajaokuta. According to Ukrainian sources, the Industrial Union of Donbass (ISD) company showed interest in Nigeria at that time. Negotiations on the future of the steel plant were also held in 2013, and then were resumed in the spring of 2016.

A spokesman for the Bureau of State Enterprises said that according to the ambassador, Ukrainian businessmen have already submitted a proposal to the federal government on this issue. He also noted that the company that had previously built the plant - Tyazhpromexport - has great potential, which his country would like to use.

As reported in the ISS Metal Supply and Sales, the Tyazhpromexport company is Russian and is part of the state corporation Rostec. In December 2015, she actually proposed to the Nigerian government to begin rebuilding the Ajaokuta mill. Moreover, in February of this year, a group of Tyazhpromexport specialists left for Nigeria to conduct a preliminary audit.