As Illegal Lithium Mining Thrives in Nigeria’s Oyo State, Officials Turn a Blind Eye
The global demand for lithium has extended to Nigeria, where a market for illicitly mined lithium minerals is thriving in the international border areas of Oyo State, helped by poor government regulation and monitoring.
As the transition from carbon-spewing petroleum-powered cars to electric vehicles accelerates, the demand for lithium is also rising. The International Energy Agency estimates that lithium production must increase 40-fold by 2040 to reduce carbon emissions enough to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
In this excerpted investigative report by Premium Times’ Beloved John, it’s revealed that lithium is always available for sale in Abuja Leather, a community in Itesiwaju Local Government Area of Oyo State near the border with Benin Republic.
Buyers visit the community with large trucks each week. They move from one shop to the next, buying bags of lithium-containing stones until the trucks are fully loaded. The trucks are often transported to Lagos and Ogun states to the original buyers, mainly Chinese, truck drivers said. This does not take too long because there are always minerals for sale.
Each week, at least three large trucks must wriggle their way out of the community through this path carrying 600 bags of a specific stone, often Kunzite. According to the traders, sales have increased in the last five years.
The mineral is illegally sourced from the nearby Danbasamiya mine and transported in large sacks to Abuja Leather, where it is sold daily like a staple food.
Findings reveal that the state government overlooks the activities of the traders, content with receiving peanuts as royalties. Security officials, too concerned with personal gains, do the same, while the federal government is completely blindsided.
Many shops and warehouses in the community were built for this business. Their owners had relocated from distant parts of Nigeria to trade lithium in the town. However, neither the traders nor the artisanal miners are licensed to mine or trade in the transition mineral.
The Nigerian government claimed in 2022 that “commercial lithium material” had just been discovered in the country. However, when PREMIUM TIMES visited the Oyo border community in August, villagers said the sale had been ongoing for about two decades.
The state government and security agencies knew of their activities and allowed them to work uninterrupted, they said.
Each large truck that make their way to these sprawling mining sites carry 600 bags of lithium, which makes up 30 tonnes. Kunzite, the mineral containing six per cent of lithium, has the highest lithium content in the village. Each tonne costs N800,000, and a truck of 30 tonnes is worth N40 million. The state government receives a paltry royalty fee of N50,000 for each truck.
Agate is a nearby community where the lithium trade is also predominant. It is a smaller community market for the mineral, which has a peculiar form of partnership with Abuja Leather that allows the traders and miners to work together.
Each week, at least three big trucks of lithium are sold in the communities and by this, an estimated 12 big trucks monthly.
It is estimated that the government receives a paltry N600,000 in royalties for lithium from these communities each month and N7.2 million in a year.
On 11 October, PREMIUM TIMES sent an FOI request to three Oyo State government agencies: the Ministry of Information, the Solid Mineral Development Agency, and the Office of the State Accountant General. The request demanded information on revenue generated from lithium mining in the last five years but didn’t get a response. None of them responded.
Although Nigeria officially operates a federal system, the central government has overwhelming powers over states and local governments in many matters, including minerals.
The Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act requires that no one without a mineral title or permit from the federal government should have or purchase minerals for any purpose.
It also mandates that minerals recovered under small-scale mining leases be sold only to licenced procurement centres for which valid sales receipts must be obtained and provided upon request.
However, the Abuja Leather and Agate traders do not see the need for a permit and are quick to point out that they work without external interference.
“The government knows about this place. The governor has been here before. They are aware,” multiple sources say.