Former executive vice chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Engr Mohammed Sani Haruna, yesterday, disclosed that Nasarawa State has emerged as Nigeria’s hub for lithium mining and processing, with current investments at $850 850million.
Delivering a lecture titled, “The Socio-Economic Importance of Lithium Mining and Processing for Nasarawa State Development” at the 2025 Engineering Week and Dinner/Award Night of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Lafia Branch, Prof Haruna said the feat was made possible through the visionary leadership of Governor Abdullahi Sule.
He said that the state’s lithium revolution represents “the single biggest leap in the state’s industrial history.”
He described Governor Sule as “a visionary engineer, industrialist, and economist whose foresight has placed Nasarawa on the global energy map.”
He noted that the governor’s focus on value addition, technology domestication, and private-sector partnerships has repositioned the state as Nigeria’s model for resource-based industrialisation.
Haruna said: “Nasarawa is no longer a raw mineral exporter. With the establishment of lithium processing plants, the state now exports refined products and creates jobs, wealth, and technical capacity for its people.”
He said investments by firms such as Ganfeng Lithium Company Limited, Avatar New Energy Materials Co. Ltd, Can Max Technologies Ltd, and Jiu Ling Lithium Mining Company Ltd, amounting to more than $850 million, will make the state a continental hub for lithium processing.
“When you sum up the commitments from Ganfeng Lithium Company Limited with about $250 million, Avatar New Energy Materials’ multimillion-dollar project, Can Max Technologies’ planned $200 million plant, and Jiu Ling Lithium Mining’s over $200 million investment, you are looking at more than $850 million in private capital already flowing into Nasarawa’s lithium sector,” Prof. Haruna said.
“That is unprecedented in the history of this state’s industrial development,” he added.
According to him, the lithium boom is already changing lives, saying, “The presence of these factories has opened new roads, improved electricity and water supply, and spurred small business activities in communities like Endo and Gudi.”
Haruna commended Governor Sule’s collaboration with the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), which established the Solid Mineral Machinery and Equipment Development Institute (SOMMEDI) in Nasarawa town to support local technology.
“This kind of synergy between governance and engineering innovation is the future,” he added.
He also revealed that the Nasarawa State Government is set to receive $15 million over 10 years from Ganfeng Mining Company Limited as part of its revenue-sharing arrangement, while the Endo community will benefit from $500,000 in local development funds.
“Beyond the money, this partnership is a transfer of knowledge and opportunity,” Haruna said, noting that over 100 Nasarawa citizens are already undergoing lithium refining training in China.
The professor explained that lithium’s applications extend far beyond batteries, with growing uses in renewable energy, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, and aerospace technologies. “In the next decade, lithium will be as strategic as crude oil once was,” he said.
Haruna urged engineers in Nasarawa State to rally behind one of their own to succeed Governor Sule in 2027, warning that handing the reins to someone without technical understanding could reverse the progress made.
“It would be a misfortune and suicidal to hand over this aircraft called Nasarawa to a pilot without engineering sense.
“The next governor must be someone who understands technology, industry, and value addition, another engineer like Engr. Sule,” Haruna said.
He described Sule’s administration as “a product of knowledge, integrity, prudence, and patriotic engineering,” and warned that continuity was key to sustaining the gains of the lithium revolution.
“I call on all members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, the scientific community, and lovers of progress to rise in defence of this legacy.
“We must guard it jealously and ensure that Nasarawa remains in safe, competent hands,” he said.
According to him, Nasarawa’s lithium development “is not just about minerals, it’s about a new identity built on knowledge, innovation, and engineering excellence.”
