LINUS OOTA writes on the changing security situation in Nasarawa, and the new investment pattern reshaping the economy of the state
Nasarawa State is richly endowed with a variety of solid minerals of various categories ranging from precious metals, gemstones, and industrial minerals such as barites, gypsum, kaolin and gold, columbites, silica sand, iron ore, granite, tantalite, marble, mica, cassiterite, limestone, aquamarine.
The state has a total land area of 28,735km with its main investment opportunities in agribusiness, light manufacturing, healthcare, tourism, energy, and mining.
Despite the above resources which the governor of the state, Abdullahi Sule, has vowed to tap into to develop the state economy, the state is grappling with several security challenges which are capable of impacting the economy. The security challenges include insurgency, conflicts between farmers and herders, to organized crime of looting and abduction for ransom.
Abdullahi Sule has in the last five years of his administration attracted huge investment into the state while tackling insecurity challenges headlong which are capable of deterring prospective investors from engaging in business activities in the state.
The state had on several occasions witnessed a high influx of banditry and kidnapping which have severe and far-reaching consequences for the economy of the state. Governor Sule believes that given the state’s predominant reliance on agriculture as the cornerstone of its economy, the presence of bandits if allowed, could disrupt agricultural activities.
Before assuming office five years ago, the state witnessed the displacement of over 700 farmers, resulting in the abandonment of farmlands. Banditry forced many people to flee their homes, abandoning businesses and means of livelihoods. The economic displacement of individuals and communities created a ripple effect, affecting local markets, small businesses, and the overall economic productivity of the state.
The prevailing insecurity before the Sule administration discouraged both domestic and foreign investments, and the lack of a secure environment undermines the implementation of developmental projects that could otherwise contribute to the state’s economic uplifting.
Abduction for ransom was the new money-making venture for kidnappers, as the surge in abduction instilled a pervasive sense of fear and uncertainty among the populace, with many feeling increasingly vulnerable to such threats.
Before coming on board of Sule in Nasarawa State, many businesses and companies closed down operations, while some relocated for fear of loss of lives and properties. In contrast, the few remaining companies operate on a skeletal basis while being apprehensive about their lives and properties.
The incessant kidnappings also affected investments, interstate travel, and transportation of goods and services from one state to another. The livestock sector was equally a disturbing issue that adversely affected many communities in the state since many bandits were reportedly from pastoral communities.
But in the last five years, the Abdullahi Sule administration employed a strategic approach in comprehensively combating the security situation in the state, by establishing an efficient network of intelligence gathering working closely with security agencies traditional rulers, and other relevant stakeholders across the state, engage in information gathering communities and supporting security agencies with all they needed to tame the tide of insecurity.
Today, due to the effort of the Sule administration to ensure adequate security of lives and properties, the state has attracted some big names in the corporate world establishing a presence in the state and tapping the mineral resources.
Some of the big names that have estab lished industries in the state include Olam Nigeria Ltd, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Azama Nigeria Ltd, Flour Mills Nigeria, Bionas Group, ABS Blueprint Consortium, Prime Global, Beacon Energy, Green Sahara, Diamond Strips, Barlow & Barrow International Nigeria Ltd, Green and Energy Limited.
However, among the mineral deposits in the state, lithium, in the last few months, has somehow become the beautiful bride, with investors sinking hundreds of millions of hard currencies into its exploration.
The scramble for lithium, a highly reactive metal used in energy-dense rechargeable batteries used in cell phones, electric vehicles, and grid storage, according to a senior policy research analyst with Nextier Group, Mr. Charles Asiegbu, may not be unconnected with the growing interest in renewable energy by governments across the world as the need to phase out fossil fuel vehicles in favour of emission-free electric cars intensifies.
“Lithium is one of the most attractive and most expensive minerals being tapped in the world market today. It has risen over 10 times its price today.” Governor Sule had also said.
Quoting a World Bank report, Mr Asiegbu predicted that the demand for essential metals such as lithium and cobalt would increase by roughly 500 percent by 2050.
He said: “Most of the world’s lithium is produced in four countries: Australia (The world’s largest producer), Chile, Argentina and China. However, these countries do not produce enough to fulfill the expanding worldwide demand. As a result, the search for lithium has moved to Africa and is already being extensively mined in Zimbabwe (Africa’s largest producer) Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, and Ghana.
“Today, the quest for lithium is gaining traction in Nigeria, with competition becoming increasingly fierce. In Nigeria, lithium is currently mined in Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara, Ekiti, and Cross River states. In 2018, Kian Smith Trade and Co, a Nigerian mini g company, announced the discovery of 15,000 tonnes of commercial lithium in Nigeria.”
Experts say among the states in the North Central with lithium deposits, Nasarawa tops the chart. This was equally confirmed by Governor Abdullahi Sule at a forum recently when he said the state indeed had the highest commercial quantity of the most sought-after mineral.
Sule also said the state has the highest number of investors working to establish a presence over the minerals. Already, three companies have indicated interest and are presently working to prospect over 25,000 tonnes per day of lithium in two LGAs, Nasarawa and Karu.
Recently, the Federal Government, through the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, performed a groundbreaking ceremony for the establishment of a $250m factory by a Chinese company, Ganfeng Lithium Mining Company, in Endo Village in Udege Development Area in Nasarawa LGA.
“Now, we have three companies that have come forward. One is called Landmark Lithium Mining Company, which is already getting ready to commission its factory that would be processing 3,000 tonnes of lithium a day. This will be done in December.
“Another company called RSIN has already begun the construction of its factory and will be commissioned by March next year in Karu. It is billed to process 1,500 tonnes and then expand to another 3,000 making it 4,500 metric tonnes by the end of next year.
“Just last week, the minister and I were in a village called Endo, where Ganfeng Lithium Mining Company performed the groundbreaking for its $250m factory that will process another 18,000 metric tonnes per day,” Governor Sule explained.
The Gafend initiative alone, according to its president, Mr Pan Quan, will provide jobs to more than 15,000 people when the factory becomes operational while building massive infrastructure across the benefiting communities, among other social responsibilities.
“The plant will provide directly 2,500 jobs and indirectly more than 15,000 jobs. After the completion of the factory, it will boost the market economy and impact the skills of young people. The investment will attract more Chinese investors into the country and Nasarawa State in particular. Infrastructure will be improved. The community will be more energetic, and every community member will work with us to create a win-win situation,” Mr Quan said.
At the Ganfeng Lithium Mining Company groundbreaking ceremony, Mr. Alake lauded the leadership of the organization for taking the initiative to establish a factory in the country instead of exporting the raw materials abroad as had been the vogue in the past.
He also commended Governor Sule for providing an enabling environment to motivate investors to establish factories in the state.
He said the federal government would henceforth only give licenses to mining companies that would add local value to the resources that abound in the country, even as he urged mining companies currently exploring and exporting raw minerals to review their business strategies and follow the path of economic recovery going on in Nasarawa.
“I want to emphasize the fact that the era of exporting raw solid materials from Nigeria is over. Any company wishing to come and invest in the solid minerals sector in Nigeria henceforth must add local value. Without that, we shall no longer license any company, anybody, any institution, any corporate organization that doesn’t have local value addition as an integral factor of the execution of its project,” the minister said.
For Governor Sule, the mad rush for the state’s minerals by investors, especially the establishment of factories in the state, is the culmination of many years of painstaking planning and hard work anchored on industrialization.
“God has given me the opportunity to see the realization of my dream so that instead of having illegal miners who are mining our products and taking them completely out of Nasarawa to somewhere else, we are now having a huge industry which is going to be processing thousands of tonnes of lithium every day,” he stated.
Our correspondent gathered that before the big players arrived at the scene, clashes of interest among illegal miners resulted in security breaches, even as their activities gave environmentalists cause for concern regarding degradation.
Governor Sule had to convene a security meeting of major stakeholders, including tra ditional rulers, and community and youth leaders in the affected areas, before the anomaly was addressed.
Experts agree that the resurgence of activities in the solid minerals subsector would serve as a springboard for a new economic order and industrialization of the state.
Governor Sule therefore assured that his administration remained resolved in its determination to serve the people diligently and selflessly by executing projects, programmes, and policies for the socio-economic development of the state.
“In this wise, we pledged to give hope to our people by creating vistas of opportunities for socio-economic prosperity for our dear state,” he reasserted.
He said his administration has priotized the provision of security for the protection of lives and properties of the citizens of the state, aimed at creating the needed environment that would guarantee the influx of investors and other development partners to invest in the state’s natural endowments for the benefits of the people.
According to Governor Sule, “Security is the bedrock for harmonious coexistence and a sine qua non for development. This administration has prioritized the provision of security for the protection of lives and properties of the citizens of the state.”
He highlighted the collaboration with security agencies, provision of operational vehicles and motorcycles, and infrastructural support, which have resulted in relative peace in Nasarawa State and a reduction in communal crises, kidnapping, and armed robbery.
The Governor, however, reiterated the need for peaceful coexistence among the diverse ethnic nationalities in the state.
“We must continue to see ourselves as one people with a common destiny. I enjoin us to always bear in mind that in everything we do, let the dream of our founding fathers and our collective interest prevail,” he stated.
In terms of industrialization, Sule traced the achievements recorded thus far to the unfolding of a policy document that defines the administration’s development blueprint and set the state on the path of economic prosperity, the Nasarawa Economic Development Strategy (NEDS).
He pointed out that through the NEDS, the Nasarawa Investment and Development Agency (NASIDA) was established, which has attracted investors and facilitated the establishment of companies like Avatar New Energy Materials Co Ltd, Azgard Mining and Processing Plant, and Nasarawa Technology Village, amongst numerous other investments.
He added that all these investments and more were informed as a result of the maiden Nasarawa State Investment Summit held in 2022, with the second summit conducted barely two weeks ago with further promise of additional investors coming into the state.
“As I speak, the state would soon witness another set of investors who have already indicated interest to invest in other sectors of our economy consequent upon the second edition of investment summit,” he said
In terms of rural and urban infrastructure, Governor Sule listed numerous completed and ongoing projects, including road constructions, urban and rural roads, flyovers, and bus terminals.
He emphasized the importance of these projects in opening up economic activities and enhancing the state’s development.
“We have also constructed the Burial Ground, Angwan Shalele, and GRA-Bukan Sidi Roads, as well as Akwanga township roads in the state. We constructed the dual carriage Shendam-Akurba Road and equipped it with solar-powered street lights to give our state capital a befitting look. I am happy to inform you that we have awarded the contract for the flyover and underpass, the first of its kind designed to streamline traffic flow for commuters from Jos to Makurdi,” the governor added.
Indeed, Governor Sule’s administration has made significant strides in various sectors, and he remains committed to sustaining these efforts to propel Nasarawa State towards greatness.
“We commenced the journey of our second tenure in office with a clear vision to consolidate on our achievements thus far and charting a transformational agenda that would change the various sectors of our economy,” he stated.
