Dele Alake: Tinubu’s mining reforms attracted $800 million foreign investment in 2024

Dele Alake, minister of solid minerals development, says mining reforms by President Bola Tinubu have yielded a six-fold increase in revenue and $800 million investment.

In a statement on Sunday, Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to Tinubu, said Alake spoke during a feature interview for an upcoming State House documentary marking Tinubu’s second anniversary.

Alake said the administration’s new policy of local value addition and a tightened licensing regime attracted the $800 million investment in processing projects to Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.

He noted that the sector also generated over N38 billion in revenue in 2024, up from just N6 billion the previous year, despite receiving only 18 percent of its N29 billion budgeted allocation.

The minister listed the $600 million lithium processing plant near the Kaduna-Niger border to be commissioned this quarter, the $200 million lithium refinery on the outskirts of Abuja, nearing completion, and two additional processing plants in Nasarawa, slated for commissioning before the third quarter of 2025.

“These investments follow the administration’s insistence that no miner gets a license without a clear local processing plant. The days of exporting raw minerals from pit to port are over,” Alake said.

“When we resumed, the entire sector generated N6 billion annually. By the end of 2024, we hit N38 billion. And this was with just 18 percent of our N29 billion budgetary allocation released. It shows how effective our policy framework has been.”

N13.9BN REVENUE GENERATED BY MCO, MINES INSPECTORATE IN Q1 2025

According to Alake, in the first quarter of 2025 alone, two regulatory agencies — the mining cadastral office (MCO) and the mines inspectorate — have already recorded N6.9 billion and N7 billion in revenue, respectively.

The minister projected 2025 to be a record-breaking one for the sector, adding that the current budget allocated N1 trillion for mineral exploration, targeted at generating internationally certified geological data.

“Exploration is key. When we came in, Nigeria had spent just $2 million on exploration, compared to $40 million in Sierra Leone, $148 million in Côte d’Ivoire, and over $300 million in South Africa. No serious investor will touch your sector without credible data,” he said.

“We are now focused on turning our mineral wealth into domestic economic value—jobs, technology, and manufacturing.”

‘OVER 300 ILLEGAL MINERS ARRESTED IN 2024’

As part of its seven-point agenda, the minister said he has taken aggressive steps to curb illegal mining and formalise artisanal activity, as over 300 illegal miners were arrested in 2024, 150 prosecutions are ongoing, and nine convictions were secured, including 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, making them eligible for finance and revenue sharing,” he said.

Alake said that over 250 mining cooperatives have been established nationwide to absorb informal miners into the formal economy.

The minister further said Nigeria chairs the newly formed African Mineral Strategy Group, a continental bloc focused on ensuring local value addition and fairer mineral trade deals across Africa.

“This was a direct result of Nigeria’s position at the 2024 Future Minerals Conference in Riyadh. We’re leading Africa in saying: no more raw material exports without domestic beneficiation,” he noted.

Noting the rising investor confidence, Alake said top global players, including the UK, the US, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE officials, have expressed interest in Nigeria’s lithium and other critical minerals.

“The former British deputy prime minister personally invited me to Downing street to discuss their interest in Nigerian lithium,” he said.

“The U.S. is also looking to diversify from China and sees Nigeria as a viable alternative.”

Alake explained that with new revenue streams, foreign direct investment, tightened regulation, and a clear path toward industrialisation, Nigeria’s solid minerals sector is now a pillar of the Tinubu administration’s economic diversification plan.

“Nigeria has not had it this good in the solid minerals sector. We’re restoring confidence, building data, enforcing the law, and returning value to Nigerians from their resources,” the minister said.

“The mining cadastral office, the agency responsible for licensing and processing applications, received over 10,000 applications from local and foreign investors this quarter alone.”

Alake said the data shows that the mining sector is vibrant as the vitality that has been introduced into the sector has never been done before the advent of the Tinubu administration.