Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Oladele Alake has expressed commitment towards the implementation of the Roadmap for the development of the energy transitions and critical minerals value chain in Nigeria.
Dr. Aleke stated this while declaring open a two-day Stakeholders Workshop in Abuja.
The Minister explained that the Roadmap would attract investment, change the critical and energy transition mineral value chain from exploration to utilisation and building energy infrastructure and human capital.
“And we all noticed that nations can develop competitive, strategic, sustainable, and well governing all value chains stand out to be able to lead in the emerging clean energy economy”
Dr. Alake who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Faruk Yusuf Yabo, stressed that it will also strengthen governance, security, environmental compliance, and stewardship.
Dr. Alake emphasized that the roadmap will further support artisanal and small-scale miners, promote industrial scale operations, ensure that mining benefits flow equitably to communities and contribute to a broader environment across federal, state, and local governments.
“Today’s gathering is not just any other technical meeting. It is a strategic milestone in our journey to harnessing the immense potential of our mineral resources at a sustainable level, driving industrialization, and positioning Nigeria as a key player in the global energy position” The Minister stressed.
He emphasized that Nigeria is blessed with abundant deposits of various minerals, and yet the mining sector remains underexposed and largely underdeveloped.
“Technology is moving at an unprecedented pace. These are the backbones for solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and their storage systems and, of course, other local technologies” he noted.
“This workshop is therefore unique because we are adopting a collaborative approach to policy making”
“We are today incorporating this particular roadmap. By doing that, we bring together governments, industries, communities, academia and of course our development partners towards shaping the shared vision” Dr. Alake stated.
According to him, the roadmap will complement the Ministry’s seven-point agenda as well as align with continental frameworks such as the African rare mineral strategy and African mining vision thereby ensuring that Nigeria’s voice is strong at regional and global Forums
Dr. Alake therefore urges all participants to be open-minded, forward-looking, and practical in their contributions during discussions.
“Let us identify not just challenges but concrete actionable steps that will enable Nigeria to be competitive around these incorporated value chains towards job creation, industrial linkages, attracting investment, and supporting our commitment to the low-carbon future” he stated
In his presentation, the Director General of the Nigeria Mining Cadastre office, NMCO, Obadiah Nkom, attributed the challenges bedeviling the sector prior to the 2016 roadmap to include, Poor Policy initiatives, inadequate geoscience data generation, industry tilted to small-scale miners, limited stakeholders’ leverage.
Nkom who stressed that some of the objectives of the Roadmap include economic diversification, noted that the roadmap focuses on reducing economic reliance by developing mining as a key growth sector, increasing mineral production:
The workshop had in attendance, Director Generals/CEOs of the Ministry, Directors from other MDAs, representatives of States and Local Governments, development partners, representatives of the World Bank, industry leaders, members of the academia, and representatives of mining communities.
