Nigeria plan to link mines to steel mill seen as Buhari test

Nigeria’s plan to build a railway to supply iron-ore to its idle Ajaokuta steel plant could be the biggest sign yet that President Muhammadu Buhari is implementing his policy to diversify away from oil. The project began in 1979 with what the World Bank in 2002 called obsolete Soviet technology, and has never been finished. Authorities want to revive it as part of Buhari’s efforts to lessen the economy’s dependence on crude, which accounts for 90% of export earnings and the price of which has dropped 62% from a 2008 record. Ajaokuta cost more than $4.5-billion from 1979 to 1993, according to the World Bank.