The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nasarawa State Investment Development Agency (NASIDA), Ibrahim Adamu Abdullahi, has officially welcomed dignitaries and participants to the third edition of the 2026 Nasarawa Investment Summit (NIS).
He said the summit aims at institutionalising economic reforms and protecting investor confidence ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The summit, attended by Vice President Kashim Shettima, global investors, and captains of industry, marks a significant milestone for the state, which has attracted over $2 billion in investment inflows since the inaugural summit in 2022.
The NASIDA boss traced the state’s rapid economic evolution through three distinct phases. What began in 2022 as an invitation to early movers to bet on a “Diamond in the Rough” evolved into an Industrial Renaissance in 2024.
“Today, the question is no longer whether Nasarawa can attract investment; the $2 billion in investment inflow already answers that. The question this summit answers is how we can ensure that what we have built endures,” he stated.
He presented an auditable record of reforms facilitated by NASIDA, including revenue growth, job creation, and improved competitiveness. Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) rose from ₦7 billion in 2019 to ₦37 billion in 2025. Over 50,000 jobs have been created through domestic and foreign direct investment, while Nasarawa now ranks among the top 10 most competitive states to do business in Nigeria.
He also cited over 50 business environment reforms, including harmonised taxes and digitised regulatory processes, aimed at improving the ease of doing business.
He said the 2026 summit is engineered for action, unveiling eight fully structured, investment-ready projects with completed feasibility studies and defined Public-Private Partnership (PPP) structures.
These include a ₦100 billion Infrastructure Fund, gold and lithium processing plants, an agro-industrial hub, a technology hub at the Nasarawa Technology Village, small hydropower projects at Farin Ruwa and Doma, the Nasarawa Gas Master Plan (first of its kind), an embedded power network, and the Aso-Pada-Nyanya Toll Road Project, all aimed at ensuring sustainability beyond 2027.
A central theme of this year’s summit is the “Lafia Declaration”, a commitment to governance reform.
He emphasised that discussions over the next two days would focus on embedding reforms within enduring systems to ensure economic policies remain stable regardless of political transitions.
The NASIDA CEO said Governor Abdullahi Sule’s administration has undertaken numerous missions to make Nasarawa State competitive, investor-friendly, and economically prosperous.
“Your capital is safe where governance is credible, and governance is credible in Nasarawa State,” the CEO assured the delegation.
The summit continues tomorrow with plenary sessions focusing on the state’s energy access gap and the operationalisation of the Nasarawa Gas Master Plan.
