Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has revealed plans to return to his original profession as a certified welder once his time in office ends.
Governor Sule made the declaration while delivering a special address at a roundtable organised by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) in partnership with the Nasarawa State Government, held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
He also used the opportunity to assure prospective investors of the state’s commitment to workforce readiness, noting that Nasarawa has a pool of trained and certified technicians available to support industrial operations and investment.
He said, “One of the things is that I actually started my education as a technician, as a welder, before I became a CNC Machinist and the rest of that, as you see me, shielded arc metal welding, Oxyacetylene welding, once I finish from Governor, I’m going into welding, because of that, we decided to make skills acquisition in Nasarawa State, something of pride
“We built one of the most standard technical institutions according to the NBTE. In fact, most of these big companies that are carrying out their training even here in Abuja, they train them in Nasarawa at that particular institution. Our major concern is that all these companies that are coming, we produce the technicians who can work for them,” he said
The governor used the opportunity to highlight steps taken by his administration to make investments attractive for investors in Nasarawa State.
“Most of what we do for the protection of investment in Nasarawa State is backed by law. We sponsored the executive bills to protect investments. We worked very hard to ensure we have peace and security in Nasarawa State. If you are looking for investors and you know how to look for investors, you must work very hard to have peace. Because every investor wants to hear security first.
“We have a law in Nasarawa State that clearly states that we have 5 percent of our IGR is going to go into de-risking any investment coming into Nasarawa State. This 5 percent that goes to de-risking, part is also used in case there is a need to provide infrastructure, road, water supply, or even power,” he stated.
He promised a special tax holiday especially for investors coming into the state to invest in renewable energy, reiterating the determination of his administration to protect investments coming to Nasarawa State.
“There is a special tax holiday for renewable energy because it is a win-win situation for the investors and for our own communities that are benefiting.
“This is in addition to the fact that we have unwavering commitment as an administration to ensure that whatever you are coming to do in Nasarawa State, we are going to hand hold you and make sure that everything, whether it is by law, or by our own efforts, that your investment is protected,” he said
He said Nasarawa State is ideal for investment in renewable energy because of the tremendous potential in the area of lithium.
“The biggest lithium processing factory is in Nasarawa State. By July, we will commission another factory that is three times the biggest lithium processing company. There are plans to build another 15m metric tons capacity factory. 5m capacity,” he said.
The Governor added that, presently, his administration is constructing a World Bank-funded Multi-door Court House for conflict resolution, assuring investors that conflict on land and tax issues would not be resolved through normal courts but through the specialised Multi-door Court House.
He disclosed plans by his administration to generate one kilowatt of power at the newly constructed state secretariat complex to make the facility entirely green.
Setting the tone for the roundtable, Abba Aliyu, MD/CEO, Rural Electrification Agency (REA), said that the Electricity Act signed in 2023 has changed the entire dynamics of the power sector.
“The Act has disrupted the entire sector by deepening the opportunity for the private sector and sub-nationals to participate in the entire electricity value chain. It has given the sub-nationals the right to participate in generation, transmission, distribution, and other activities. Beyond these, the act has also emphasised the need for renewable energy to be used to upgrade the electricity access gap,” he said.
The REA boss said his agency is also saddled with the responsibility of developing an electrification strategy and implementation plan, which he added formed the basis for organising the roundtable.
He disclosed that 86m Nigerians lack access to electricity, the highest number in the world, with 22m people and residential households that need to be electrified.
He commended Nasarawa State for being the state with the highest number of mini-grids in Nigeria, saying REA has conducted its research to confirm the electricity needs of every state.
“We assessed each state on its ability and readiness to achieve hundred per cent electrification. We developed a number of criteria, and we assessed this. Nasarawa State is one of the states that we assessed, and we are going to present to you the result of that assessment. How the states will move forward,” he said.
He, however, identified low budgetary allocation for electrification projects and a dearth of technical manpower as peculiar challenges that would need to be addressed in Nasarawa State.
On her part, Doris Uboh, Executive Director, Rural Electrification Fund, said the agency is funded by a USD750m World Bank facility geared towards the electrification of rural areas in the country.
Uboh congratulated Governor Sule for creating an enabling environment and ease of doing business in Nasarawa State.
According to her, it is not by accident that the most number of mini-grids are found in the state.
Congratulations on creating an enabling environment and ease of doing business in Nasarawa State. Because it is not by accident that the most number of mini-grids are found in your state. We collected data from across every state in Nigeria.
“It’s because you made it easy for people to come in there to work and create wealth for the local communities. I hope more states will equally follow your lead. Because when they do that, it makes our job easier; they make it easier for us to sell these pitches.
