Atiku Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, has revealed that four lithium plants are currently being built across Nigeria to enhance the solid minerals sector.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show while discussing the 2025 budget in collaboration with KPMG, Bagudu stated that the federal government has allocated $1 trillion in the budget to support domestic production in the sector.
“Because while we have done a lot in terms of the institutional alignment, we have created a solid mineral sector, a steel ministry, but some of the risk money that is required to propel the sector to greater production and productivity have not been provided,” he explained.
He noted that with the $1 trillion investment, there would be significant progress in the solid minerals sector. “And with this $1 trillion, one will see a further transcendent of activity in the solid mineral sector. We are seeing announcements by the day, lithium plants are coming, at least four lithium plants are being constructed across Nigeria.”
Bagudu also mentioned that additional investments are pouring into the sector. “Just the day before yesterday in Abuja, Wale Edun and I attended a signing ceremony where an investor is committing $400 million to a cement company in Kebbi State, as well as a lot of additional and industrial scale investment coming into the sector.”
Increased Investor Engagement in Agriculture
The minister highlighted the federal government’s continuous efforts to engage with global investors, which has resulted in a surge of interest in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
He revealed that President Bola Tinubu has secured $3 billion in investments from Brazilian investors for both livestock and crop production.
“We have just seen an announcement by the Saudi Arabia Agriculture and Livestock Investment Company that have bought, have increased their shares in a company, Olam, that is based in Nigeria,” Bagudu said.
He further shared insights from a recent engagement with investors in Saudi Arabia, stating, “We met them in Saudi Arabia on Christmas Eve, the coordinating minister and I, among others, and they spoke about Nigeria as a prospective second after Brazil in terms of agriculture.”
Bagudu pointed out that Nigeria has a strong agricultural workforce but has faced challenges due to limited access to technology and financing. “Strong absorptive capacity, hardworking people who are in the space and who have been limited by technology, by financing, that is a great, strong market,” he said.
According to him, global investors are recognizing Nigeria’s economic improvements and are considering expanding their investments. “The windows are fixed, and with the way the economy has been turned in the right direction, they are looking at investing more. This is in addition to increased activity that we are seeing at the small scale level and even at the additional level.”
Strong Agricultural Harvest and Increased Funding
Bagudu highlighted that Nigeria has recorded strong agricultural yields in many states, prompting the government to allocate 1.5 trillion naira to further boost production.
“With what we saw in the last few months, strong bumper harvest in many states, occasioned by increasing security and favourable weather conditions and increased activity by those in the agricultural space, which is already impacting on prices of food items,” he stated.
He emphasized the importance of modernizing Nigeria’s agriculture sector to ensure sustained progress. “It gives further impetus to do more in agriculture so that we maintain the trajectory of moving, modernising our agricultural production from the artisanal level to the livestock sector, to the fisheries sector, so that we can get yields to be higher.”
According to him, higher agricultural yields translate to economic benefits for farmers. “Because with improved yields, our people engaged in agriculture become wealthier and richer, which is a driver of wealth creation.”
To support this, Bagudu disclosed that the government is investing in agricultural financing. “And thus more money, 1.5 trillion naira is being put in the budget to recapitalise the Bank of Agriculture. And it is anticipated that with that recapitalisation, the challenge we are seeing in funding agriculture by traditional main street banks will be compensated for.”
Additionally, he noted that Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, is spearheading initiatives to ensure large-scale agricultural businesses receive the financial support they need.
He concluded by stating that these initiatives are designed to boost agricultural production, especially for those impacted by recent economic reforms and rising funding costs.
