The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, has revealed that President Bola Tinubu’s reforms in Nigeria’s mining sector have attracted over $800 million in foreign investment and boosted revenue generation sixfold in 2024 alone.
Speaking in a feature interview for an upcoming State House documentary marking President Tinubu’s second anniversary in office.
Alake disclosed that the sector generated more than ₦38 billion in 2024, up from ₦6 billion the previous year, despite receiving only 18% of its ₦29 billion budgetary allocation.
He credited the surge in revenue and investor interest to the administration’s policy shift mandating local value addition and a stricter licensing regime.
“These investments follow the administration’s insistence that no miner gets a licence without a clear local processing plant. The days of exporting raw minerals from pit to port are over,” he said.
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Among the major projects listed were a $600 million lithium processing plant near the Kaduna-Niger border, expected to be commissioned this quarter; a $200 million lithium refinery near Abuja, nearing completion; and two additional processing plants in Nasarawa State, slated for launch before Q3 2025.
Alake further disclosed that in the first quarter of 2025, two key regulatory agencies—the Mining Cadastral Office and the Mines Inspectorate—recorded ₦6.9 billion and ₦7 billion in revenue, respectively.
With ₦1 trillion now allocated for mineral exploration in the 2025 budget, the Minister projected a record-breaking year.
He emphasised that exploration was essential to attracting credible investors, noting that Nigeria had previously spent just $2 million on exploration—far below the $40 million spent by Sierra Leone, $148 million by Côte d’Ivoire, and over $300 million by South Africa.
“We are now focused on turning our mineral wealth into domestic economic value—jobs, technology, and manufacturing,” he said.
Alake also highlighted aggressive steps taken to curb illegal mining, revealing that over 300 illegal miners were arrested last year, with 150 prosecutions ongoing and nine convictions already secured, including against foreign nationals.
“We adopted both kinetic and non-kinetic strategies. While enforcement has yielded results through the Mining Marshals, we’re also empowering locals by formalising them into cooperatives,” he said.
He noted that over 250 cooperatives have been established to integrate artisanal miners into the formal economy.
He added that Nigeria now chairs the newly formed African Mineral Strategy Group, a continental bloc advocating for local beneficiation and fairer trade deals across Africa.
“This was a direct result of Nigeria’s position at the 2024 Future Minerals Conference in Riyadh,” he noted.Alake said global interest in Nigeria’s critical minerals, especially lithium, has been rising. “
The former British Deputy Prime Minister personally invited me to Downing Street to discuss their interest in Nigerian lithium,” he revealed.
