The $8 Billion Factory That Was Supposed to Make Nigeria a Superpower

Nigeria's $2 billion plan to revive Ajaokuta Steel — Africa's most ambitious steel plant — could finally end decades of steel imports. Inside the Chinese-backed deal to wake up the giant that was supposed to make Nigeria a superpower. Built with Soviet engineers in the 1970s and declared 98% complete in 1994, Ajaokuta Steel Company has never produced a single sheet of steel — despite over $8 billion spent across four decades and 16 heads of state. Now, a $2 billion production-sharing deal with a Chinese investor aims to switch it on at last, with a rolling mill that could be running within six months. In this documentary we cover: ▸ Why Ajaokuta was designed to be the bedrock of Nigeria's industrialisation ▸ The Soviet "Global Contract" that built it — and why Russia walked away ▸ The concession wars, the $496M settlement, and 40 years of false dawns ▸ How the $2 billion Chinese production-sharing model actually works ▸ What has to go right for Nigeria to finally make its own steel Nigeria consumes ~10 million tonnes of steel a year but produces just 1.2 million. Closing that gap is a $2 billion bet on the country's industrial future. 🔔 Subscribe for more African infrastructure and megaproject documentaries. #Ajaokuta #Nigeria #Steel