Determination Of The Characteristic Strength Properties Of Mild Steel Reinforcement
[A CASE STUDY OF ILORIN METROPOLIS]

CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 NIGERIAN STEEL INDUSTRY (HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT)
Planning for the Nigerian steel industry started around 1958. Many international Organizations and consulting firms had been commissioned at various times to study the feasibility of steel plants under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of Industries In 1971 an extra-ministerial agency was established by Decree to focalize efforts required to actualize a steel plant. The agency was called ‘Nigerian Steel Development Authority” (NSDA). Under this agency organized efforts were intensified in market survey of the steel market in Nigeria; in-depth geological investigation of local raw materials, on aeromagnetic survey for alternative sources of iron-ore through which the Itakpo Iron ore deposit in 1972 was discovered.
However, the NSDA was dissolved by the Federal Government and this into several organizations, thus:
i.    Ajaokuta steel project, Ajaokuta.
ii.    The delta steel company, Ovwian-Aladja
iii.    Jos steel rolling company, Jos.
iv.    Katsina steel rolling company, katsina.
v.    Oshogbo steel rolling company, Oshogbo.
vi.    National ore mining company, Itakpe.
vii.    National steel raw materials exploration agency, Kaduna.
viii.    National metallurgical development center, Jos
ix.    Metallurgical training institute, Onisha.
To industrialize, there is need to have a sound industrial base that will be producing such critical industrial raw materials as:
i.    Cast iron (different categories)
ii.    Rods and bars (both high tensile and mild steel varieties)
iii.    Structural steels (light, medium and heavy structural)
iv.    Stainless and other special alloy steels etc.