Nigeria has spent $1.038 trillion on iron and steel imports in the last nine months, according to The Punch’s calculation of the National Bureau of Statistics’ Foreign Trade Statistics. In a similar fashion, the Federal Government pumped N21.3 billion into the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Complex between 2016 and early 2022. The total value of basic metal products imported between July and December 2021 N748.529 billion, while that of iron and steel was N88.232 billion. In the first three months of 2022, Africa’s biggest economy imported metals valued at N201.08 billion. The value of iron and steel, however, was not captured by the NBS report in the first quarter of 2022. Data collated from the appropriation bills available on the website of the Budget Office of the Federation showed that N295.1m was allocated to Ajaokuta in 2016, with N135.2m released by October of that year. In 2017, the total allocation was N4.3bn, with recurrent expenditures at N3.9bn and capital expenditures at N354.1m. In 2018, the total allocation was N4.3bn, with recurrent expenditures at N3.9bn and capital expenditures at N354.1m.  In 2019, the total allocation was N3.6bn, with recurrent expenditures at N3.3bn and capital expenditures at N262m

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