<P> In 1979, the Nigerian government signed an agreement with soviet group Technopromexport for the construction of a steel plant in Ajaokuta . </P> <P> Steel making infrastructure reached an advanced stage in 1982 with the commissioning of Aladja Steel complex, the first phase was built at a total cost of 922 million naira . The factory's process utilized electric arc furnace steel making technology . The mill was planned to produce finished billets more than it could process into wire or iron rods . The remainder of the billets were distributed to three rolling mills in Jos, Osogbo, Katsina, these mills then produced rods between 6mm and 40mm . The production capacity of the rollings mills were divided into phases, the first phase with an estimated hourly production of 80 tonnes of finished products was 210,000 tonnes per year, a second phase projected a production rate of 420,000 tonnes per year and a final phase production of 720,000 tonnes per year </P> <P> Katsina rolling mills was constructed by Kobe Steel of Japan . One of the Nigerian project coordinators was Mahmud Kanti Bello who later became a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria . Upon completion, the country agreed to a 36 months technical assistance programme with Kobe to train Nigerian employees . The mill produced plain and ribbed rods between 6mm to 40mm in diameter and the finished products were primarily associated with wire industries . </P> <P> The rolling mill in Jos was constructed by a consortium of German firms; Mannesmann Demag, AEG Telefunken, Ofenbau Union and Bilfinger + Berger . </P>

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