The Nasarawa State Government has promised to sustain its efforts in utilising the available lithium resources to ensure the first electric vehicles factory in Nigeria is established in the state.
Governor Abdullahi Sule stated this on Sunday, at an event organised by a group under the aegis of Abdullahi Sule Gidan-Gidan Support Group, to celebrate the two years of his second tenure in office.
He said the state’s lithium reserves recorded significant attention, particularly with the recent inauguration of a lithium processing factory in the state, built by Avatar New Energy Materials Company Limited.
The governor noted that working towards having an electric vehicle factory in the state aligned with the Federal Government’s efforts to promote clean energy and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
We will continue to engage investors and strategic partners to ensure that the second stage of the processing, which is the production of the battery and the eventual assembly of the vehicles, is done here in the state.
My administration desires to achieve this, and even if we are unable to achieve it, I hope that anybody who is taking over from me in 2027 will pursue it to a logical conclusion.
Because it is by achieving this that the state will be the number one economy we are dreaming about,” Sule added.
While promising that his remaining years in office would be better than the last two years, Sule appreciated President Bola Tinubu for his economic reforms and promised to fully key into them for the overall development of the state and country.
The governor further expressed his gratitude to the group for organising the event to honour his administration, while assuring them that he would not stop working hard towards delivering the dividends of democracy to all residents of the state.
The Deputy Governor, Dr Emmanuel Akabe, said lithium had always been in the state, but it took the foresight and ingenuity of the governor to expose it to the outside world.
Akabe further revealed that there was a huge quantity of lithium deposits in the various local government areas of the state, affirming that the government would leverage on it to attract investors.
Electric vehicles use batteries which are produced by lithium, and Nasarawa State is the headquarters of lithium in the country,” he stated.
The convener of the event and chairperson of the Abdullahi Sule Gidan-Gidan Support Group, Hussaina Sule, said the event was to celebrate the milestone achievements of the governor in the last two years.
She listed some of the projects, including flyovers and underpasses in Lafia and Akwanga local government areas of the state, and the ongoing construction of the state’s secretariat complex in Lafia.
