The Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, delivered a keynote address at the ongoing Nigeria–German Economic Forum in Dortmund, Germany, where he outlined Nigeria’s strategic vision for advancing its steel and minerals sector value chain and attracting long-term foreign direct investment in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
Prince Audu said Nigeria is transiting from a raw materials exporter to a value-adding industrial economy and is therefore seeking credible, long-term partners to support this transformation. He highlighted Nigeria’s strategic position strengthened by the country’s population of nearly 250 million people, characterised by a large and youthful workforce.
He said these attributes position the country as a regional hub for African trade.
He noted that Nigeria has abundant reserves of steel inputs and energy-transition minerals.
The Minister emphasised that Nigeria has strong domestic demand for steel, with approximately $10 billion in annual utilisation, underscoring the scale of market opportunity, noting that Nigeria is seeking credible partners in steel and aluminium production and mineral beneficiation and processing, as well as industrial infrastructure development including power, rail, gas and ports.
He stressed the importance of technical skills development and technology transfer to strengthen the nation’s workforce capacity.
The minister noted that Nigeria possesses significant deposits of iron ore estimated at over 3 billion tonnes, as well as substantial reserves of limestone, manganese, copper, lead-zinc, lithium and rare-earth minerals.
He assured that the federal government of Nigeria is harnessing the mineral resources to support both domestic industrialisation and export opportunities to Europe.
Prince Audu was received by the Minister for Federal, International and European Affairs, Mr Nathanael Liminski; the Lord Mayor of Dortmund, Mr Alexander Kalouti; the President of the Dortmund Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Heinz-Herbert Dustmann; and the Consul General to Slovakia, Mr Klaus Wagener.
