Nigeria to become investor’s destination in solid minerals, Dele Alake

Dele Alake
April 29, 2024

…says Nigeria will no longer accept pit of port exploration

Minister for Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said on Monday, April 29, that the Nigerian government was working to ensure that the country becomes an investor’s destination in the area of solid minerals development.

He also said that communities, where solid minerals are extracted from, must henceforth derive maximum benefit from solid minerals exploration.

The minister spoke at a two-day national stakeholders’ roundtable on sustainable development of the mining industry organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Abuja.

He said plans to process raw minerals locally will now be part of the conditions for obtaining mining licences in the country, adding that the government will no longer accept what he called pit to port system in the mining sector.

The Minister also said that the Minister has trained and deployed about 2,160 Mining Marines to all states of the federation to help fight the activities of illegal miners.

He said the government was putting in place concrete measures that would shift attention away from fossil fuels to solid minerals as a way of generating revenue for the government.

He said: “The President has given us the mandate to re-organise the sector from exploration to production and processing with the ultimate objective of making it a key contributor to the national economy. Nigeria is prime to become the new global mining destination and together we will make this vision a reality.”

Alake said that conscious of the limitation of time and resources, the Ministry has developed a Seven-Point Agenda, a roadmap for the transformation of the Mining Sector for national prosperity and international competitiveness.

He listed the agenda as the establishment of the National Solid Minerals Corporation, the establishment of the Mining Police, the gathering of comprehensive data on Nigeria’s minerals to de-risk the sector, and aggressive and pro-active promotion of Nigeria’s mineral endowment to attract investors.

Others are combating illegal mining by replacing artisanal mining with cooperative mining, value Addition through industrial processing of extracted minerals and reduction of export of raw minerals, and Human development of mining communities through enforcement of Community Development Agreements.

He said the agenda and its components were adopted by the Federal Executive Council and form the content of the contract between the President and the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development and the deliverables within the framework of the Renewed Hope Agenda.

He disclosed that the Committee on Solid Minerals Development has initiated the enactment of an act of the National Assembly on the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation, which will be a private sector-led limited liability company with a clear mandate of engaging in the business of mining across the entire value chain upstream to the downstream.

He said the company is expected to create some of the stability the sector requires and spur other private sector activity by catalyzing investment inflow across the entire sector.

He said the private sector will own 50 percent of the corporation 25 percent by interested Nigerians and 25 percent by the Nigerian government, adding that the intention is to ensure that successive governments do not tinker with the gains in the sector.

He said the idea of a Mining Police to enforce mining laws and combat all illegal mining activities has been realised through the establishment of the Mining Marshals, with about 2,160-man elite paramilitary force drawn from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps with the support of the Ministry of Interior and trained by the Military

He said the mining police has been deployed to the 36 states with each state getting a 60-man rapid response team on the ground, adding that communities hitherto terrorised by illegal miners in Osun, Kwara and Kogi are being rescued.

The Minister said further that plans for a full-scale, nationwide gathering of exploration data has attracted the interest of global firms including GeoScan of Germany with the Federal Government signing a Memorandum of Understanding with GeoScan.

He said the Ministry is currently maximising networking, engagement and display opportunities at international mining conferences to market the mineral resources drawing to the country several delegations of investors who are setting up companies with the intention to intervene in the mining value chain from upstream to downstream.

He said over the years, the private sector has found the mining environment a tough one to navigate and drive investment into due to governance issues amongst other challenges.

He said: “My objective as your Minister is to work to ensure that Nigeria becomes a mining destination for the first time in its history and we are working to make this happen by alleviating bottlenecks and salient challenges that have plagued the sector over time such as security, licensing problems, unclear community engagement/development frameworks, policy inconsistencies, illegal mining on existing licenses and others. With your support, we are committed to overcoming these challenges and putting Nigeria on the global mining map.

“In the context of our sector, we have a duty to our mining investors, exploration companies, mining companies, processors and other players in the value chain to create and maintain an enabling environment for them to thrive.

“As we can all agree, mining is truly a herculean task and one that needs as much of a stable policy environment as possible to avoid business interruptions. Imagine bringing in millions of dollars of investment to operate a mine in a state only to wake up one morning to hear that mining has been abruptly banned in your state of operation.

Read Also: Economy: Better days are ahead for Nigerians, says Dele Alake

“These are the type of scenarios we need to avoid for our mining players as they send a wrong signal to the global market about our seriousness about making Nigeria a mining destination. It is also counterintuitive to the objectives of Mr. President of diversifying our economy through solid minerals.”

Former Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed said the brainstorming session is aimed at bringing key stakeholders in the mining sector from the private sector, government, and civil society to discuss the current mining landscape in Nigeria and explore potential opportunities for investment facilitation and sectoral development.

Director General of NIPSS, Prof Ayo Omotayo said the roundtable was organised as part of the mandate of the Institute having in mind the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President.

He said: “We must do all we can to take our country to greater heights by ensuring that the critical mining sector contributes its share of a 1 trillion dollar economy in very few years ahead. The question is can we achieve the promise of a trillion-dollar economy if the mining sector performs optimally.”

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