Business

Steel industry calls for state support to avoid ‘full blown crisis’

The steel industry has called for urgent state support to avoid a “full blown steel crisis”, warning that plans to issue loans to soften the impact of soaring gas prices “won’t address the problem”.

As industry leaders voiced dismay at the perceived lack of support from government, trade unions wrote to the prime minister warning he was at risk of making a “historic mistake with devastating consequences” for an industry employing 32,000 people.

Uncertainty about how to support power-hungry industries such as steel has already sparked a political row between the Treasury and the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, over whether to offer financial support.

While the Treasury is understood to be reluctant to fund a bailout, ministers are weighing up proposals from Kwarteng to provide short-term loans or guarantees while gas prices are high, to help sectors such as steel, glass, chemicals and paper.

Representatives from the industry met officials from BEIS on Tuesday but left disappointed at a lack of detail on the proposals and concerned that the loan plan won’t help.

“If it is only these loans that are on the table, then for the steel industry that won’t address the problem,” UK Steel’s director, Gareth Stace, told the Guardian.

“We need to get back round that table to discuss and agree better solutions.”

Three steelworkers’ unions – Community, the GMB and Unite wrote to the prime minister on Tuesday, urging action to protect thousands of jobs.

“The seriousness of the situation requires swift and decisive action from government. But it seems government ministers have been too busy squabbling, and that’s why we wrote to the prime minister urging him to get a grip and act to resolve this crisis before it is too late.”

In their letter to the prime minister, the steelworkers’ unions said other European countries had provided assistance to their own steelmakers.

“Brexit was supposed to make it easier for the government to back British industry and British jobs, but all we are seeing is the same old procrastination and excuses for doing nothing,” they wrote.

UK Steel had earlier backed Kwarteng in calling for assistance from the chancellor, Rishi Sunak. The Treasury initially appeared to reject, issuing an unusual reprimand to the business secretary for suggesting help might be available.

Since the split, officials from the departments are understood to have thrashed out the short-term lending plan.

But UK Steel said this would leave the industry still battling against a “hostile environment” and at risk of shutdowns.

In an earlier statement, Stace said: “Our message directly to the prime minister is please don’t just apply a sticking plaster to what is a significant long-term problem. Action can and must be taken now to secure the foundations of British industry.”

Kwarteng met representatives from industries including steel, paper, glass and chemicals on Friday and again on Monday, to hear their arguments for longer-term help, such as measures to ease electricity costs, which are high relative to European peers.

Stace said any measures to help steel had to put UK producers on a “level playing field” with overseas rivals.

“If any package delivers less than this and we still continue to pay more for energy than French and German steel producers and we remain at a competitive disadvantage,” he said.

“Steel producers here in the UK will continue to have to pause steel production, will be less efficient and will lose margins and market share.

“This is a hostile environment for industrial investment in the UK and for the government’s levelling-up agenda.”

The business department said the steel industry’s international competitors were often benefiting from pricing regimes that transferred the cost of industrial energy usage onto households.

“Ministers and officials continue to engage constructively with industry to further understand and to help mitigate the impacts of high global gas prices,” said a spokesperson.

“Our priority is to ensure costs are managed and supplies of energy are maintained.

“Some countries on the continent have lower industrial electricity prices in part because some costs are recovered from consumer bills.”

Business

FG revokes 924 dormant mining licenses

The Federal Government has revoked 924 dormant licenses spanning exploration, mining, small-scale mining, and quarrying Licenses.

This is in furtherance of efforts to sanitise the mining sector.

Making the announcement on Wednesday at a press conference, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake declared that in line with constitutional provisions, adequate notice was given to all concerned parties through the official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, No. 227, which was published on December 27, 2023.

“The notice gave all concerned parties 30 days to regularise their status, including clarifications on what caused the license to be dormant. Thus, although a total of 963 licensees were published and notified of the threat of revocation, no fewer that 39 either moved to site immediately or convinced the authorities of the challenges hindering their operations”, the Minister asserted.

In view of the foregoing, Alake affirmed the revocation of 928 dormant licenses, which include 528 exploration licenses; 20 mining leases; 101 quarry licenses, and 273 Small Scale Mining Licenses (SSML).

Speaking further, the Minister stated that the action followed due process and fair consideration while it underscored the commitment of the Federal Government to implement the standard policy of “Use it or Lose it” as enshrined in mining guidelines.

According to Alake, “Investors across the globe are now free to apply for any of the affected Cadastral Units on the basis of “first come, first served.” It is our belief that this decision will sanitise the licensing system by penalising those who have commercialised the opportunities offered by the sector into a bazaar.”

Noting that the revocation was not meant to be punitive, the Minister announced an opportunity for affected licensees to make restitution, imposing fines for different categories of revoked licenses, stressing that this also applied to the 1,633 titles revoked last year for default in payment of annual service fees.

“For revoked Mining Licenses, a fine of N10m applies; N7.5m for Small Scale Mining License (SSML) while N5m for Exploration License (EL). They will be required to make the payments within 30 days to qualify for consideration,” Alake emphasised.

The Minister warned that henceforth, the Federal Government would not tolerate the nefarious activities of license racketeering or those that obtain licenses for speculation in order to offer them to the highest bidder.

“A good lesson from this exercise is for investors to do their homework and be ready to flag off their projects as soon as they obtain licenses. Nigeria is open for business, and we shall encourage smart, serious, and adventurous investors to set up and provide jobs to our teeming youths,” Alake added.

Business

Rwanda to establish relationship with Ogun on industry, education, others

The Rwandan Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Christophe Bazivamo has said that his country is ready to establish economic and educational relationships with Ogun State for mutual benefits of both parties.

Ambassador Bazivamo, who stated this while fielding questions from newsmen after a meeting with Governor Dapo Abiodun in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, noted that Ogun State has achieved much in the area of education and industrialization, hence the need for his home country to tap from the experience.

He said: “I have participated in the ongoing trade organized by the state government. At the fair, I had the opportunity to interact with the governor, and I am here in his office to share what we are doing back home and learn from the governor’s development strides.

“I am also here to find out how we can move forward together because my country believes in the South-South cooperation, and we know that Ogun State is doing well in the industry, education, and other areas.

“When you are developing industry as the right choice and in the right direction, especially in a state where more than 65 to 70 percent of the population are young people, you are creating jobs and once people are consuming locally made products, it helps grow local industries and makes jobs available for the people.”

The Envoy said Rwanda is looking at how to further develop its industries to produce goods and skills for the youths to help them prosper.

He said his country was thinking in the direction of establishing and strengthening relationship with Nigerian businessmen, saying that Rwandan Private Sector Federation is ready to go into partnership with the Ogun State Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, trade together, exchange ideas and work on building sustainable partnership.

Ambassador Bazivamo revealed that Rwanda and Nigeria have already signed an agreement on the Joint Permanent Commission for Cooperation, but we are waiting for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for even planning and perfection before implementation.

“I also discussed with the governor how our businessmen can collaborate and be of help to each other because this is something that can be helpful to both sides, especially our young generation.

“We believe in partnership. We also believe in the African Continental Trade Area. You can not move alone in that direction. You need to be together with others. When you see traders wherever they are, they have innovation, and when you see what they have compared to what you have, you will wish to link together.

“What I have seen in Ogun State when it comes to industries, is that they are producing locally and I believe some people can come from Rwanda, learn from here and take the lesson back and replicate it in our country,” the Ambassador added.

Business

Dangote reduces diesel, aviation fuel prices further to N940, N980

Dangote refinery to gets 300,000 barrels/day from NNPC

Dangote Petroleum Refinery has again announced a further reduction in the prices of both diesel and aviation fuel to N940, N980 per litre respectively.

This is coming at the wake of its widely celebrated price reduction to N1,000 barely two weeks ago.

The price change of N940 is applicable to customers buying five million litres and above from the refinery, while the price of N970 is for customers buying one million litres and above.

Speaking on the new development, the Head of Communication, Mr Anthony Chiejina, explained that the new price is in consonance with the company’s commitment to cushion the effect of economic hardship in Nigeria.

“I can confirm to you that Dangote Petroleum Refinery has entered a strategic partnership with MRS Oil and Gas stations, to ensure that consumers get to buy fuel at affordable price, in all their stations be it Lagos or Maiduguri. You can buy as low as 1 litre of diesel at N1,050 and aviation fuel at N980 at all major airports where MRS operates.”

He further stated that the partnership will be extended to other major oil marketers. “The essence of this is to ensure that retail buyers do not buy at exorbitant prices.

“The Dangote Group is committed to ensuring that Nigerians have a better welfare and as such, we are happy to announce this new prices and hope that it would go a long way to cushion the effect of economic challenges in the country.

It would be recalled that the management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced a further reduction of the price of diesel from 1200 to 1,000 Naira per litre barely two weeks ago.

This marks the third major reduction in diesel price in less than three weeks when the product sold at N1,700 to N1,200 and also a further reduction to N1,000 and now N940 for diesel and N980 for aviation fuel per litre.