2 days ago
Nigeria: Tinubu to commission 60,000-ton per day lithium processing plant in Nasarawa
President Bola Tinubu, on his return from official trips to Japan and Brazil, is expected to commission the biggest lithium processing plant in Africa, with a capacity of 6,000 tonnes per day.
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during the launch of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF) 'Investopedia', which showcases investment opportunities across the 36 states of the Federation.
Governor Sule, who noted that President Tinubu's reform agenda was not receiving sufficient credit, argued that the 'reform agenda has made more resources available in the hands of the Federal Government, the States and the Local Government.'
While calling on foreign and local investors to partner with subnational governments, he emphasised that oil and gas in Nigeria remained largely under-explored.
To this end, he urged investors to take advantage of investment opportunities in the agricultural and mining sectors across the 36 states of the Federation.
'I have had the opportunity to visit many countries exploring oil and gas while I worked in the US for an oil and gas company. That opportunity has shown me that Nigeria's real onshore basins are not even explored at all. If you look at the Benue Trough, which starts from Calabar and stretches to Gombe through Nasarawa and Plateau, all the way to the Lake Chad Basin, the opportunities there are not yet explored.
'And so, when Afreximbank and MOFI are asking for areas in the oil and gas sector, enough is there. The Anambra Basin is still open; it is under-explored. If you look at the Benin Basin, it is there. All of them are still underexplored. If Nigeria explores all these areas, we will have another Saudi Arabia.
'The reason is that most of the big fields in Nigeria, such as Bonga and Agbami, are all in deep water, so nothing is being explored in the deep ocean.
'But today, if you look at some of the discoveries that are beginning to emerge, in Gombe, for instance, the NNPC has already drilled approximately five wells. In Nasarawa, they drilled one, and in Lake Cha,d they drilled two. And the work is still ongoing. So if you are looking for something, as the gentleman from Afreximbank and the UNDP representative said, alongside MOFI, then the oil and gas sector is where to go.'
He also urged investors to explore the abundant opportunities in the mining sector, noting that 'every state in Nigeria has potential for mining. There is at least one kind of special metal or mineral present, including Lagos, which, despite its limited land area, still has minerals.'
He explained that in Nasarawa State, the government introduced an executive order mandating that 'anybody who is mining in Nasarawa must also process in Nasarawa State.'
'By doing that, Nasarawa State is now home to the biggest lithium processing plant in Nigeria, and we are waiting for Mr President to return and commission the next lithium processing plant, which will indeed be the biggest in Africa with 6,000 tonnes per day, and there are many more such opportunities available,' he said.
On cassava processing, he disclosed that Nasarawa still has 10,000 hectares of land, similar to allocations for cassava in other regions, but added: 'Our own focus is on rice, and we are collaborating with 20 states across the country.'
He also urged potential investors to explore agricultural opportunities in Ogun, Osun, Ondo and other states across Nigeria.
