Ahead of the scheduled 2024 Nasarawa Investment Summit, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group (ADB), has commended Governor Abdullahi Sule for placing emphasis on infrastructural development aimed at driving the industrialisation policy of his administration.
The President of the African Development Bank Group made the commendation in a letter issued on Thursday.
Dr. Adesina said the theme for the 2024 Nasarawa Investment Summit, “Industrial Renaissance,” resonates well with one of the bank’s strategic priorities to indutrualize Africa, which he said, is crucial in achieving sustainable growth of African countries.
Dr. Adesina who was billed to deliver the keynote address during the summit coming up from May 15th to 16th in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, expressed regret that he may not be available due to his commitments during the time the summit would hold.
He, however, disclosed that, the bank’s Director General for Nigeria Country Department, Mr. Lamin Barrow will represent him at the event.
Recall that the 2024 Nasarawa Investment Summit, which is a biennial event, is the second summit to be organized by the Nasarawa State Investment Development Agency (NASIDA).
Highlighting the significance of the Investment summit, Governor Sule who appeared as a guest on TVC’s Business Nigeria, said the chain of activities in the state in the days ahead which includes the commissioning of the largest lithium processing plant in Nasarawa Local Government Area are fallout of the inaugural investment summit in 2022.
The Governor said the maiden investment summit focused on agriculture and mining, which brought a lot of benefits to the state.
“The second summit that we are going to have on the 15th and 16th this month, we are focusing on industrialisation. This is because we have seen more and more discoveries of various minerals, gold, lithium, zinc, lead, and the rest.
“We have been able to discover a lot of these minerals within this period. What we are doing is that we have so many other companies that have shown a great amount of interest in coming to work in those areas. That is the essence of the summit,” he stated.
Governor Sule explained that the coming summit will also focus on agriculture because of the renewed hope, interest, and aggression in agriculture in the state.
He added that from the theme of the inaugural summit, which was “Diamond in the Rough,” meant to discover Nasarawa State, the state has been discovered already.
“It looks like Nasarawa has been discovered already. We are seeing a lot of interest that is responsible for the so much amount of benefits coming to the state. That is the essence for the summit,” he said.