Nigeria has commissioned what the federal government describes as West Africa’s largest lithium processing plant, as Africa’s biggest mineral producers race to capture more value from the fast-growing global market for battery materials.
The facility, located in Endo community in Nasarawa State, has a daily processing capacity of 6,000 metric tonnes and an annual capacity of three million metric tonnes.
Officials say the project is part of Nigeria’s strategy to stop exporting raw minerals and instead build domestic processing industries that create jobs and attract manufacturing investment.
President Bola Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima at Thursday’s inauguration, said Nigeria must move beyond extracting raw minerals if it wants to benefit from the global demand for critical minerals.
“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,” he said.
