Eko Hot Blog reports that the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has disclosed that Nigeria currently has a deposit of mineral products worth $750 billion.
Alake stated that the Bola Tinubu government is working to ensure the country becomes a promising investment destination for solid minerals development.
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The minister said this on Monday at a two-day national stakeholders’ roundtable on sustainable development of the mining industry
The event was organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Abuja.
Alake revealed preliminary reports by a German firm, GeoScan, indicating Nigeria has minerals worth a conservative $750 billion.
The minister said the mining sector has the potential to contribute significantly to the nation’s goal of achieving a trillion-dollar economy
However, the minister emphasized the importance of data availability to attract investors who will establish mineral processing plants in Nigeria.
He noted that this will create a multiplier effect on job creation and economic growth.
He said, “We are working with the World Bank, Excalibur and GeoScan, a German company, to get the necessary data on the sector.
“That is why the federal government signed a memorandum of understanding with Geoscan and they did a preliminary survey of our minerals on the output and potential.They gave us a figure of $750bn worth of minerals embedded under the ground of Nigeria.
“That is a conservative estimate, by the time we conduct a serious, accurate data exploration, we will discover that we have trillions of solid minerals embedded under. So, the president’s projection of a one-dollar economy is not a fluke.
“By the time we are done with all of these efforts, input and policies we are putting in place, trillions of naira will be a child’s play and we will be nudging trillions of dollars.”
Alake stated that the solid minerals industry is undergoing ongoing reforms aimed at revitalising the sector.
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He stressed the importance of preventing Nigeria from remaining solely a ‘pit-to-port’ exporter of solid minerals.
The Minister also stated that communities where solid minerals are extracted must now benefit fully from the exploration
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