By Our Reporter

The Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi A Sule, has pledged to to focus attention on development of solid minerals to boost revenue status of the state. Towards this end, he said his administration will invest heavenly in developing the sector. Gov Sule who spoke while receiving the Executive Vice Chairman of National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure( NASENI)Prof Muhammad Haruna who paid him a sallah homage also pledged that his government would certainly add value to the solid minerals in the state.

The governor said the location of NASENI’s Solid Minerals Machinery and Equipment Development Institute in Nasarawa State was strategic to the mining sector and commended the management for citing the institute in Nasarawa state.

He pledged to continue with the existing collaboration between the state government and NASENI to develop the Solid Minerals Machinery and Equipment Development Institute and noted that solid minerals deposit in Nasarawa State were enormous which government can afford to ignored.

The governor gave the assurance that the state government would immediately complete the landscaping of NASENI institute and provide road networks for the entire 20-hectare permanent site of the institute in order to fast-track the development of the various mining processes as contained in SOMMEDI plan. The governor who expressed his commitment to collaborate with NASENI to deploy the agency’s solar power capacity for the supply of electricity to the state’s general hospitals and street lights in rural areas, towns and cities within the state, however expressed the confidence that institute which was established to provide capacity building and development in the areas of solid minerals development and processing, solid minerals machinery and equipment design, development and production, would live up to the expectations of all.

Earlier, Prof Haruba revealed that the institute will guarantee value addition and create a chain of businesses in the solid mineral Sub Sector, adding that it will also provide consultancy services, chemical analysis of minerals, exploration of mining geology, mine plan, processing and test design.