The team of TheMiners editors spoke with Engr Adamu Husseini, the Chief Executive Officer, ASBA Wisdom Group on his plans for the COMPANY, expectations for the Nigerian Solid Minerals sector and assessment of the recently concluded AFNIS 2025. Excerpts:
Q:AFNIS, organised by Core International, has been a standout event in setting policy for the continent on minerals beneficiation and value addition. What is your assessment of this forum and how engaged are you with the platform as one to market your products?
A: The AFNIS event is a gathering of key players and decision makers within the sector, it is a great platform to market your solutions, products or services.
Q: Your company was one of the standout stars of the last AFNIS, with visit to your Lithium plant as one of the highlights. How has this impacted on your business plans?
A: The AFNIS event has no doubt given us a lot of exposure as a company by propelling
us to the global stage, but we remain steadfast and focused on achieving and
delivering this project.
Q: We were part of the visit to the massive plant. How close are to its completion?
A: As you have seen during the visit, all machines have been installed and civil works
completed, we are currently carrying out unit testing of the individual machines and
thereafter the complete production line will be tested. We are currently looking at
commencing production by late October 2025
Q: Can you share with us what has been the biggest challenges you have faced in this engineering project? How have you resolved them?
A: One of the biggest challenges we faced was that construction started in April 2024
which was the start of the rainy season and by July – September we faced lot of
logistical issues in delivering construction materials to the site, which significantly
affected our delivery timeline initially intended for April 2025. To resolve this, we
had to fix the access road.
Q: Why did you decide to invest this huge amount of money in a lithium processing plant? What are your projections for return on investment?
A: Lithium is a key component for battery production and its application and potentials
are boundless in this digital age, Nigeria has this mineral in abundance, additionally, the world is pushing for greener energy sources, this in addition to other factors
made this investment timely
Q:One of the issues that mining industry players worry about is access to funding. From your experience, what advice do you have for them?
A: Funding is a global issue, but every business owner has many options available to
him for sourcing funds.
*Community leaders with management of ASBA lithium plant
Q: During the visit to the plant, we noticed a huge presence of leaders of your host community. What are you doing to secure and maintain the support of the locals?
A: The local community are our hosts and they will be the primary beneficiaries of this
project through direct and indirect job opportunities; the plant will provide 1200
direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs.
Q: What is the expected processing capacity of the plant and how would you source the raw materials for its operation?
A: One of the key factors for sighting a production plant is the nearness to source of
raw materials, our choice of this location was primarily driven by this its closeness
to where we will be sourcing raw materials, the FCT is one of the states known to
have vast deposits of lithium in commercial quantities.
Q: Part of your plans is to transition to the production of EV batteries and electric vehicle. What is the timeline for this?
A: This project is just the first phase, similar to the processing of raw material where
you need to have sufficient supply that will meet the processing capacity. The
subsequent phases of this project is fully reliant on the outputs from this phase.
*Minister of Solid Minerals Dele Alake and other officials at the groundbreaking of ASBA’s lithium processing planf
Q: Your operation is sometimes described as Asba Group and Wisdom Group. Is this one company or a partnership of two companies? If it is a partnership, how does it work in harmony?
A:There is only Asba Group of companies limited, as a growing conglomerate, we have
lots of subsidiaries that are focused in different sectors.
Q: You are also invested in seemingly safe sectors such as real estate, construction, oil and gas and such. Why did you decide to extend into mining?
A: It offers a unique opportunity to create sustainable wealth through the extraction
of valuable resources that are in constant demand globally, while also
contributing to job creation and economic development in line with renewed hope
agenda.
Q: How would you rate the present state of solid minerals operating environment – locally and globally?
A: Locally, we have started to see the sector evolving as the spotlight has been set on
Nigeria through the discovery of vast deposits of lithium and other critical minerals. Globally, the quest for rare-earth mineral which have vast applications in defense and technology sectors has pushed for more investments in the sector and has brought more attention to countries with vast deposits of these minerals.
Q: What do you think of the FG decision that a product like lithium, for instance, can no longer be exported from Nigeria in its raw form?
A: It is a wonderful decision because every economy grows by pushing for local
processing and value addition of raw materials.
Q: Many licensed firms struggle with encroachment by illegal miners. Do you face this challenge and how are (have) you responded to the challenge?
A: The ministry of Solid Minerals in conjunction with the Nigeria Security and Civil
Defense Corps have mapped out a robust mechanism for tackling the issue of illegal
mining within the country. That has helped drastically reduce the occurrence of
illegal mining operations.
Q: What sustainability plan do you have for your organisation, especially as it relates to the environment and investors?
A: Our sustainability plan is anchored by a commitment to bold targets and focused on
delivering sustainable returns for our investors.
Q: You are a major football fan, especially Arsenal. How do you deal with Arsenal’s perennial inability to win a cup, any cup?
A: Like the tides of the sea, there are high times and low times. Arsenal may be
experiencing its low tides but they’ll surely rise and reclaim their position.
Q: Which personal values would you say have helped to position ASBA as a forward looking firm?
A: For me personally, I’d say its vision and resilience. But from a corporate standpoint,
it’s our strong work ethics, reliability, adaptability and flexibility.
