ABUJA - The Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum), Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN), has in Abuja urged South Korea to establish a shipyard in Nigeria.
Ajumogobia made the appeal when he received Mr. Desmond Akawor, Nigeria’s Ambassador to South Korea, who paid him a courtesy visit.
He said that such investment would deepen existing economic relations between the two countries.
The minister noted that Ajaokuta Steel Complex could produce all the steel and other requirements needed for the construction of vessels in the country.
He also said there were abundant mineral resources that could aid ship-building in the country, urging South Korean investors to also invest in the country’s energy sector.
The minister noted that some of the raw materials used by Korean dockyard companies came from Nigeria.
“We have a steel plant and there is no reason not to produce vessels here for the oil and gas sector.
“South Korea can establish a shipyard and produce ships here, as part of our mutual efforts to harness the benefits of existing economic relations,’’ he said.
“The South Koreans are currently participating in our country’s rail and power projects,’’ Ajumogobia said, adding: “Power is very critical to our economy and the Koreans are making some giant strides in that area.”
The minister noted that Nigeria stood to gain a lot from South Korea’s participation in the development of its power sector.
“South Korea generates 68,000 megawatts of electricity, while we are still battling to maintain our current generation level of 3,000 megawatts.
“We need to pull ourselves up from where we are today by using available development opportunities through partnerships with countries like South Korea,” Ajumogobia said.
The minister, however, expressed delight at Akawor’s posting to South Korea because of his engineering background and experience.
“I will take advantage of your posting to exploit the vast potential available in our relations with South Korea.” he said
According to Ajumogobia, the partnership with South Korea will definitely move forward with an amicable resolution of all outstanding issues.
He said that South Korea and Nigeria shared common aspirations, colonial past and heritage, as well as an active GDP by 1960.
“But today, South Korea has progressively increased its GDP through systematic planning and faithful implementation of economic policies.
“We should be up where we should be in terms of development, given the great potential available to us,” Ajumogobia said.
Earlier, Akawor informed the minister of the need to revisit some of the agreements Nigeria signed with South Korea.
He stressed that such action was considered desirable so as to rectify the identified lapses in efforts to further boost the bilateral relations.
“South Korea has the biggest shipyard in the world and is expanding beyond the maritime frontiers into the building of an LNG vessel in Qatar.
“We can tap into the Korean experience and expertise, especially in the oil and gas sector.
“In 2005, former President Olusegun Obasanjo signed an MoU with South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun for the country’s participation our upstream and downstream oil, gas and power sector,’’ Akawor said.
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