The investment drive of Governor Abdullahi Sule is breaking the circle of poverty in the localities, through job creation and revenue generation, as the governor’s inclusive approach to solving security situations and friendly investments policies is attracting more investors to the state. With the level of raw materials, the state is open to companies willing to invest in battery manufacturing, even as the global lithium giant, Juling will be investing a 4-million tons annual capacity of lithium processing plant. In this interview with our correspondent, SOLOMON ATTAH, the MD/CEO, Nasarawa State Investment and Development Agency (NASIDA), Abdullahi Ibrahim, said that with the state’s proximity to the Federal Capital, Abuja, Nasarawa State is not only strategically positioned to host manufacturing companies, it is fast becoming the lithium hub of not only Nigeria, but West Africa region. Excerpts:
Can you share in brief about the agency?
My name is Ibrahim Abdullahi, I am the Chief Executive of Nasarawa Investment and Development Agency, (NASIDA). NASIDA is Nasarawa State’s one-stop investment center, we do investment promotion and facilitation, we do investment management, we do enable business reforms, and we serve as the Governor’s delivery unit, spearheading the implementation of the Nasarawa Economic Development Strategy, since the inception of Governor Abdullahi Sule’s administration.
Early this year, you released a report for the 2024 investment flow in the State. how did you come about this report?
Well, we actually published a report recently, the first report we published was a four-year report, end of term report. As you know, the leadership of the investment agency has a four-year mandate, so in January we completed that four-year mandate and got renewed another four years, so we developed and published a report that encapsulates our work over the past four years. But the other report that we published, a more recent one that we published in February was the report of investments in Nasarawa State from January to December 2024. So, this report provides details of all the investment inflows into Nasarawa, Domestic Investments, Foreign Direct Investments, investments that have been actualized, investments that haven’t been actualized, the various sectors and the locations of these investments and the economic impact of those investments on Nasarawa State. So that is what the 2024 report of investments in Nasarawa State captures.
The reason we’re publishing this report is, as a responsible public investment institution, we have a responsibility to publish to the general public, to make known our activities, so there is an accountability framework that we submit ourselves to, so that’s the first. The second is that over the years there have been a lot of misconceptions around the work that we’re doing and the work that the Governor is doing in attracting investments. A lot of the milestones that we’ve achieved have been underreported in the mainstream media and otherwise, so we decided to take it upon ourselves to really make this report known to the public, so that everyone knows the investments that have been attracted into Nasarawa, the investment commitment we’ve had and the level of implementation of those investment commitments.
So that’s how we came about the report. So the report captures all the investments attracted into the state, that is investment announced by an investor. When an investor comes into the state, makes known their intention to do business in the state, identify what projects they want to invest in, the amount they want to invest in the state, and then we begin to work the details of that investment, how that investment can be implemented and actualised.
So closely, how were you able to correct those misconceptions in the public eye?
Yeah, so I mean with this report published, you can see that it is very clear that we’ve attracted both domestic and also foreign direct investments into Nasarawa State.
Now, what are the areas of investments in the state, the various potentials that investors can come in to invest?
Agriculture, Nasarawa State is an agrarian state, so over 70% of our land in Nasarawa is fertile, we can cultivate any kind of crop in Nasarawa State. We have very supportive traditional institutions all across the state that lead at the forefront of the investment drive of the government.
The other area is the solid minerals, so we’re both blessed with fertile soil for agriculture, we are also one of the most mineralised states in the country. There’s hardly any mineral that you can find in Nigeria that you won’t find in Nasarawa State. We have gold in the commercial community, we have lithium, Nasarawa State is fast becoming the lithium hub of not even Nigeria, even the West African region. So, we’re endowed with a number of natural resources that are in the commercial quantity. Another area of interest is manufacturing, because of our proximity to Abuja, the federal capital, and also our position in the centre of Nigeria, we’re a very interesting and strategic logistics hub, so we’re best positioned to host manufacturing companies to do their manufacturing in Nasarawa. We have a relatively cheaper labour than other parts of the country. With that, the government has embarked on one of the most ambitious skill acquisitions, skill development for young people, with the equipping of various tertiary institutions for vocational and technical education, the revamp and the establishment of the Wing Commander Abdullah Ibrahim Skills and Vocational Centre, that has trained and graduated just this year, over 1,000 youths from across the country have been trained and empowered.
How are you exploring these investment opportunities, particularly in addressing the infrastructure deficits in the state?
Well, the government is making the investment in infrastructure itself. You will recall that the Governor has commissioned a number of critical road infrastructure that connects rural areas to urban centres and connects farming communities to markets. The governor has also embarked on rural roads development, in fact there is a Bureau for Rural Development, just to underscore the importance of providing the enabling infrastructure to help drive our very aggressive investment drive in Nasarawa State. The government believes that when it invests in this infrastructure, we reap double dividends. One, our people get to have good infrastructure provided by government, but also this infrastructure becomes enablers for investments.
Earlier, you mentioned the position of the State as a mineralized state, and we know that there are areas where mining activities are going on illegally. What are you doing to attract more investors to come and invest?
Yeah, that’s all we’ve been doing, doing a very aggressive investment drive to attract well-meaning individuals to do real investment in the state. As you know, Nasarawa State is also a state of many firsts, some of the biggest processing plants of minerals are in Nasarawa State, because government has been worried about the flight of natural resources, so people come and explore natural resources here, and then, we take them out without doing any value addition, and it is in this value addition that jobs are created, that government gains revenue and all that. We’ve been encouraging investors to come in this regard, the government has been leading from the front. Avatar launched the largest lithium processing plant in Nigeria, it was launched by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we are also currently, very soon by the end of the year, another one will be launched by Juling. Juling is one of the global lithium giants, they are going to launch a 4 million tons annual capacity lithium processing plant, it’s going to create a lot of jobs, and we’re hopeful that this investment will be catalyst, will also bring in other investors to participate within the value chain, we’re hoping to have investors that will come and invest in battery manufacturing, because the raw materials are here.
How may a common man benefit from these opportunities?
Jobs, jobs, jobs. When these investors come, they need people, they need jobs, they need a human resource to be able to make these investments happen, and when these investments begin to happen, government also generates revenue from the relevant taxes, and so government gets revenue to continue to provide public goods and infrastructure, the companies employ our people, and our people get gainfully employed, because government does not have the capacity to employ everyone, so it’s a win-win, and it’s a catalytic, it has a catalytic impact, it helps us break the circle of poverty in our local communities, government generates revenue, and it’s a shared prosperity.
With the report released, what are we expecting as the new rules?
We’re expecting more investments to come into the state, we’re also expecting to work closely with these companies and these investors that have announced they are investing in one project or the other, to complete this project, so that we enjoy the full circle of the project.
Assuming there is no agency as NASIDA, what would have been the situation at the moment in Nasarawa?
Well, I don’t know, but thank God we do have, and thank God that other agencies are working collaboratively with us, and thank God for the kind of leadership that we have in Governor Abdullah Sule. I don’t want to focus on what if it was not here, but let us focus on the fact that we have institutions such as NASIDA, and other remarkable government institutions that are doing the work of providing value to government and people in the state.
Can you share with us some of the successes that earned your reappointment?
Well, I’m humbled by the vote of confidence on me by the Governor, for renewing my term in office. For me, this is another opportunity to do more than we’ve done. This is another opportunity to triple the investments inflows into Nasarawa state, consolidate on our ongoing projects, and making sure that the people get the full impact of the investment drive of Governor Abdullah Sule. We are also hopeful that we will continue to build on this institution, and make it more sustainable, and continue to position NASIDA as a center of excellence, for training a new cadre of leaders for Nasarawa State in the public service, that are very well motivated and highly driven, people of integrity, and are skillful and competent to deliver public service.
What will you say is the sum of investments the state was able to attract, so far in both cash and physical structure from inception to date?
Well, just on investments recorded, over the past four years we have recorded well over 3 billion US dollars of investment commitments. So, it’s not all of those investment commitments that have been actualized. For instance, just in 2024, of the US$1.2 billion investment announced, US$767 million in 2024 were actualized. Actualized meaning the investors have moved to sites, and they are at various stages of completing those projects.
So, when an investment is announced, it means that an investor has come in, has identified a project, has made a commitment to announce that you invest in the project based on the outline business case or business case of the project. And then, when you move to sites, and you begin to spend that money that has been pledged, then it is actualized. So, we’ve done investment over the past six years, attracted investment in the regions of over US$3 billion.
And sometimes, how we quantify these investments. Some of these investments come to government direct and make pledges and so on. A number of all these investments also don’t necessarily come to government because it’s a free market. They go and buy their land at market value. They go on with their business. Government creates the enabling environment. So, the majority of these investments are actually created on a free market basis. But you can see the impact on the number of jobs in the population, because more and more people are moving to Nasarawa to share in the prosperity of government and people of the state.
With the zeal driving you, what are we expecting differently now?
More of what we’ve done before. Yeah, we should expect more of what we’ve done before. Last year, we attracted US$1.2 billion. We want to do US$2 billion this year of investments. And I’m hopeful that we can achieve it.
What is your take on the pockets of insecurity, said to be scaring investors away?
Well, the security of lives and property is the responsibility of government. So, regardless of what happens, government will not rest on its oars. Government will continue to work towards improving the security of the state through partnerships with communities, traditional institutions. And these are some of the initiatives that the government has taken and improves the security situation in Nasarawa. It is our hope that these efforts continue to yield results. It is our hope that Nasarawa continues to be a safe haven for investments. We already enjoy relative peace more than any state in this country. And it is as a result of governments and the governor’s inclusive approach to solving security situations. He works with community leaders, traditional institutions, civil society, all to improve the state’s security. So, we don’t have an alarming security situation. We say that Nasarawa State is very safe for investment, but government will continue to improve on it.
What’s the final word for the people of Nasarawa State and also to investors who are desiring to come here to invest?
Well, I applaud the people of Nasarawa State to continue to support the governor’s investment drive. It is real. It is happening. And it is the only way the state can witness rapid growth. Government does not have the resources to do it alone. There is no society that has developed just on account of only government spendings. We need a handshake between the public sector and the private sector to bring about industrialization, to bring about real growth. So, we need the support of the people. And I also call on the investment community to come and do more investment in Nasarawa State Not only because we are well placed in the country and we are blessed with natural resources, but we also have the most-friendly policies for investments. We have a political leadership that understands this, that yearns for this, and that lives for this. So, Nasarawa State is the best place to come and do business.
