Nigeria’s Solid Minerals Worth $750bn
The minister made the disclosure at a two-day Stakeholders’ Roundtable on Solid Minerals Development jointly organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) and Bruit Costaud in Abuja on Monday.
Alake said the mining sector has the potential to contribute a large chunk of the wealth necessary to turn Nigeria into a trillion-dollar economy, which is a major goal of the Tinubu administration.
He disclosed that the country had a solid mineral wealth worth in excess of $750bn, according to a survey report by a German firm, GeoScan.
He, however, hinted that Nigeria was likely to have much more than the figure when the reports of other surveys from other reputable global firms were received.
He stated that the availability of data was important to attract investors to Nigeria as it would help them make informed investment decisions, adding that bringing them to site their processing plants in Nigeria will have the multiplier effect of job and wealth creation for the citizens on one hand and the growth of the country’s economy on the other hand.
Alake further stated that the president has given the ministry 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.
He reiterated his resolute stance on local value addition in products mined in the country and highlighted that through his advocacy and leadership of African ministers of solid minerals, all the other African countries had adopted the same policy of value addition.
The minister added that part of his seven-point agenda of reform is the formation of a mining police, which has been launched and already arresting illegal operators across Nigeria, and the establishment of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation.
“We are proposing 50 per cent of the equity entirely to the private sector, 25 percent to Nigerians in general and 25 percent to the government,” he explained.
On his part, the governor of Nasarawa State, Abullali Sule, said that lithium is the new gold and that Nigeria has it in great abundance.
He further stated that his administration had set up the biggest lithium processing factory in Nigeria and that it will soon be processing 4,000 metric tonnes a day and transporting over a million tonnes of lithium a year.
For his part, NIPSS director-general of NIPSS, Ayo Omotaya, in his speech, said the summit was organised to bring together the various stakeholders in order to propose solutions to challenges confronting the mining industry.