Tinubu to inaugurate lithium processing plant in Nasarawa

Abdullahi Sule, governor of Nasarawa state, says President Bola Tinubu will commission Nigeria’s biggest lithium processing plant in Nasarawa state.

Sule announced during the launch of the October 2025 Nigeria Development Update (NDU), themed ‘From Policy to People: Bringing the Reform Gains Home’.

In March, Atiku Bagudu, the minister of budget and economic planning, said four lithium plants are being constructed across Nigeria to boost the solid minerals sector.

Sule said the construction of the 66,000-tonne plant has been completed, but did not reveal the date for commissioning.

He, however, said Tinubu confirmed his attendance on Tuesday night.

Also, the governor said the state is looking at sustainable development, not something that cannot be sustained.

“So we say our human capital development is, as far as Nasarawa state is concerned, we say we have oil, oil exploration is ongoing, we have mining activities,” he said.

‘STATES ONLY GET 26% OF FEDERAL ALLOCATION’

Sule lamented that governors get criticised because the public thinks they get more money from the federal allocations, but the states only receive 26 percent of the revenue.

“The issue is that when you just say that, a lot of people think the entire amount was given to governments, you know, and that’s not the case,” he said.

“The sharing formula in this country is that 52 percent of that money actually went to the federal government.

“26 percent, which is half of what the federal government did, went to the 36 states. 20 percent of that money went to the local government. This is how the sharing is.

“But any time the punch is coming, it’s coming to the governors. You know, it’s the governors that are taking the money. Are we appreciating what we are getting or not? We are.”

On September 29, the governor said Nigeria’s subnational governments now have unprecedented resources at their disposal and must channel them into sectors that can transform the economy.