Tinubu inaugurates lithium plant in Nasarawa, favours local mineral processing

President Bola Tinubu has officially opened what is described as West Africa's largest lithium processing plant in Nasarawa State, signaling a strategic shift for Nigeria towards local mineral processing and industrial growth. The facility, located in the Endo community, boasts a daily processing capacity of 6,000 metric tonnes and an annual capacity of 3 million metric tonnes.

“

Natural resources may be a blessing, but only vision can turn them into wealth. Only institutions can protect that wealth. Only industry can multiply it, and only people can give it meaning.

Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the inauguration, President Tinubu stated that the plant embodies the government's dedication to developing the solid minerals sector through local value addition. He stressed that national prosperity stems not just from abundant resources, but from transforming them into economic opportunities. "What changes a nation is a deliberate movement from extraction to processing, from potential to production, from raw materials to value-added goods," he remarked.

“

What changes a nation is a deliberate movement from extraction to processing, from potential to production, from raw materials to value-added goods, and from isolated investments to integrated industrial ecosystems.

The President identified lithium as a crucial global mineral due to its role in battery production, electric vehicles, and renewable energy. He emphasized that factories are not merely buildings but sites where policy translates into employment and investment into production.

“

A factory is never just a building; it is where policy becomes employment, where investment becomes production, and where hope begins to acquire structure.

The operating company reported that the project has already generated over 1,000 direct jobs and more than 2,000 indirect jobs. This development follows recent reports of the discovery of a world-class polymetallic mineral province in Kaduna State, containing platinum group metals, gold, nickel, copper, lithium, and rare earth elements. This discovery, verified by the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, further bolsters Nigeria's potential in critical minerals.

“

What we are doing here today is an eloquent testimony to the prophetic statement of Mr President on the one hand, and to our own commitment in the Ministry of Solid Minerals… to developing and transforming Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.