The future of mining business is in Kaduna state, as the first liquid steel plant in Africa will soon be completed, the Managing Director, Kaduna Mining Development Company Limited, Dr. Mohammed Nura Sani, has said.
This is just as the state government said it has concluded arrangements to build a dam on the 800,000 hectares forest between Buruku and Birnin Gwari towns, which has in the past two decades remain haven of terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements.
Delivering a paper at the 7th Kaduna Investment Summit, KADInvest 7.0 with the theme: “Building a Resilient Economy,” in Kaduna on Thursday, Dr. Sani said work on the liquid steel company is in top gear, even as wooed investors to the state to take advantage of the huge deposits of minerals such as Gemstone, Gold, Tin, Granite, Laterite, Columbite, Tantalite, Manganese, Garnet, Beryllium, Nickel, Platinum, Cobalt, Lithium, Iron, ease of doing business and other incentives available in the state.
He said the state housed economic quantity of all the mineral deposits “critical” for the development and for future business, thus boasting that the future of mining business is in Kaduna state, while assuring investors that there are licenses which cover the exploration of different minerals.
“Kaduna state is going to be the first in Africa to produce liquid steel. Works on completion of the steel industry is in top gear and once completed, those companies in need of it will patronise the state.
“We also have mineral deposits which are useful in construction industries. These include granite, laterite and others. We are calling on hundreds of investors, looking for where to invest in mineral deposits, to come to Kaduna because Kaduna state is a place to invest in mineral exploration business. Kaduna state is healthy for business opportunity because we have deliberate policies and massive infrastructures to help business development,” Dr. Sani said.
Speaking on the construction of dam on the 800,000 hectares forest, the Director-General of Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency (KASUPDA), Ismail Umaru-Dillon, said the dam project will not only address the security challenges in the state, but permanently end flooding in Kaduna metropolis.
He told potential investors during the Business Expo that the planned dam will also be utilized for agriculture, as the state would be tapping into it for irrigation farming during the dry season.
“From Buruku to Birnin Gwari where we have been experiencing armed robbery from time immemorial. It moved to cattle rustling and now kidnapping and banditry. We feel something must happen there. We have a very massive land that has never been utilized and that is why we cannot just fold our arms and allow criminals to continue to take advantage of the blessed land. So, we came up with the master plan and discovered that from Buruku to Birnin Gwari, we have close to 800,000 hectares of land, which is about two states in another part of the country.
“We are creating a dam there. Kaduna is just like a drainage for the water, which is coming from Bauchi, passing through here to Shiroro Dam. The water sometimes cause flood here. So, as a way of finding lasting solution, we will build the dam, save the water, address the flood problem and harvest the water during the dry season for irrigation farming.
“This we believe will also create jobs, as most of the youths can go into agriculture. We will encourage the youths into agriculture and that is why we brought the OCP fertilizer to partner the government in this direction. We also brought NEXIM Bank to see how we can export the produce from here in a big way,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Kaduna Capital Territory Administration has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kaduna Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA) to establish a film village within the Kaduna International Trade Fair Complex.
Speaking on the proposed Film Village, Administrator of Kaduna Capital Territory Authority, Hafiz Bayero, said the partnership is not going to build new structures, but leverage on the old Trade Fair Complex structures, which are currently under-utilised to refocus them.
“We are looking to have a space in the trade fair complex, where people can come film movies and do their pre and post production and also move the movie to the International film market. What we need to do in Kaduna is to have a steady supply of technical hands in all aspects of film production, we will be setting up a film academy that trains people on the advanced technology that is involved in modern day film making and Kaduna has the best landscape.
“We are going to build Kaduna City History Centre, because Kaduna City has a very rich history. If you go to any city across the world ,they have a place where they deposit history about the place. But here in Kaduna in-spite of the rich history we have, we have been unable to document it, and have it in one location where people can visit,” he said.
The Click-on-Kaduna programme has developed Kaduna youth, create job and entrepreneural opportunities for youth across Kaduna state, the Programme Director, Nuradeen Maidoki has told the Information and Computer Technology Business Expo of KADInvest 7.0. Nuradeen, who was represented by Fatima Aminu, said the Click-on-Kaduna programme created in 2018, and built on five components: E-Lancing, Digital entrepreneurship, Digital skills, Virtual training for remote jobs and Data science fellowship, has created hundreds of jobs and established several entrepreneurs in the state.
“Click-on-Kaduna programme is a platform for human capital development created by Kaduna state government in 2018 to give young people (18years – 35years) in Kaduna the skills for the future. We carried out a six months digital skill development programme; an intensive training for 180 people (90 males, 90 females) and five observers. After the programme, 70 percent of the participants were integrated into the system and they generated $325, 000,” he said.
