By UDEME CLEMENT
The volume of investments in Phoenix Steel Mills Limited in Nigeria has increased to over N20billion, even as the firm also created over 20,000 jobs.

The general manager of the company, Mr. Prasoon Kashyap, disclosed this during the 4th Nigeria infrastructure and construction exhibition  held in Lagos, saying that 95 expatriates are employed to work alongside Nigerians in technical and managerial positions to ensure technology transfer in all aspects of their operations.

He added that the firm, which is the first group of several diversified companies engaged in manufacturing of steel rods, steel pipes and quarrying of granite in Nigeria, has increased its manufacturing capacity to over 250,000 tonnes annually and is still putting measures in place to ensure capacity utilisation in the steel industry.

“What we want people to understand is the fact that Nigeria is capable of producing standard steel products conforming to international standards everywhere in the world. Also our personnel are trained and retrained on regular basis to enhance efficiency in our operations.”, he said.

Responding to question on the market size in the country, he said, “ Nigeria has a good market for steel products and we are able to source for raw material easily. We are getting patronage from construction companies, but the major problem is the perception by some individuals that imported steel products are better that those manufactured locally in the country”.

This is an erroneous impression that should be corrected because the steel industry in Nigeria is doing very well in stems of making quality products”.

He explained, “ Phoenix is one of the first steel manufacturers in Nigeria to be awarded the Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS) certification by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) as part of the Mandatory Conformity Assessment (MANCAP)”.