Zaria (Kaduna State), Feb. 19, 2026 (NAN) Transforming Nigeria’s defunct coal value chain into a high-technology feedstock base for critical AI materials such as Silicon and Germanium could unlock billions of dollars in revenue for Nigeria.
The initiative could position the country in the booming global AI hardware market.
The coal value chain, experts say, is emerging as a strategic resource for Nigeria’s future competitiveness in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly in microelectronic manufacturing, including semiconductors, transistors and memory resistors.
The Galadiman Ruwa Centre for Strategic Leadership and Communication (GCSLC), disclosed this in a strategic blueprint submitted to President Bola Tinubu.
Th Chairman of the centre, Dr Jaafaru Sa’ad, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Zaria on Thursday that the blueprint had outlined pathways for revitalising dormant coal assets for advanced industrial use.
He urged that Nigeria must shift from passive resource dependence to deliberate revitalisation of abandoned national assets to secure a place in the AI-driven global economy.
Sa’ad advocated the establishment of the Nigerian Green Energy and Chemicals Corporation (NGECC) as a special-purpose vehicle to drive the transformation of coal resources into high-value industrial feedstock.
He explained that the proposal was anchored on the centre’s “8R Stealth Paradigm,” which emphasises revitalisation, resuscitation and re-engineering of strategic resources, especially Nigeria’s estimated 3.3 billion metric tonnes of coal reserves.
According to him, the framework recommends converting coal into advanced industrial materials capable of supporting global semiconductor and AI hardware manufacturing supply chains.
The blueprint also proposed the creation of a Presidential-led Special Standing Committee to facilitate the establishment of a Strategic Mission Vehicle to operationalise the NGECC as a globally competitive corporation.
GCSLC further suggested the activation of a National Resource Revitalisation Fusion Centre (NRRFC) to serve as an operational hub for integrating Nigeria’s mineral resources with global technology standards and industrial innovation systems.
The centre stated that the initiative aligned with global economic outlooks, including IMF growth projections and the United Nations “Beyond GDP” framework, aimed at strengthening long-term sovereign wealth and industrial resilience.
It, however, cautioned that emerging economies such as South Africa and Namibia were advancing rapidly in AI adoption and digital infrastructure, while Nigeria risks remaining largely a consumer rather than a producer of advanced technologies.
The think tank stressed that without strategic initiatives like the NGECC, the country could face constraints in computing capacity, data resilience, national security and public sector productivity.
NAN also reports that GCSLC describes itself as a global think tank focusing on national assets’ revitalisation through its “8R Stealth Paradigm’. (NAN)
