TheCable

The federal government says it is exploring a partnership arrangement with the United States (US) to attract investment into the sector.

Dele Alake, minister of solid minerals development, said the US is Nigeria’s longstanding ally and strategic partner for the nation’s mining sector development.

Alake spoke while receiving David Greene, Charge d’Affaires of the US embassy in Nigeria on Thursday, a statement by Segun Tomori, the minister’s media aide, said.

The minister lauded the US’ commitment to fostering cooperation with Nigeria in diverse sectors of the economy, stating that it underscores the significance of the smooth bilateral relations between both countries.

“I thank you for your visit. I met the US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources, Geoffrey Pyatt, on the sidelines of the Mines and Money conference in London past year, and we had a fruitful engagement,” Alake said.

“I did analyse all our issues, and fundamentally, we just want to diversify our economy from oil. Not just for our own economic survival but also to be in tune with global trends for reduction in global warming.

“We also want to be part of the move to reduce global emissions and put our mining sector on the global map. We have critical minerals that are in commercial demand globally.”

Alake welcomed the partnership with the US on investments in the mining value chain, expanding access to technology in extracting and processing minerals and securing mining areas.

Explaining government reforms, the minister emphasised the revised community development agreements designed to ease community tensions, a new security architecture to protect resources, ongoing efforts to collect extensive geological data, and the integration of artisanal miners into cooperatives.

“The mining sector provides a veritable avenue for increased trade between Nigeria and the United States, especially in the area of value addition, which implies processing of extracted minerals and setting up factories here,” he said.

“We would also require financing from multilateral institutions for our local operators. We are providing incentives for investments like tax waivers for mining equipment, policy of full repatriation of profits to home countries amongst others.”

In his remarks, the US envoy commended the renewed interest of Nigeria in solid minerals, stressing that the sector has huge potentials to rival the contribution of oil to the nation’s economy

“Nigeria and US have had decades of cultural ties, cooperation in security agriculture amongst others. Your mining sector has huge potentials and we are interested in collaborating to invest in extracting and processing of minerals alongside providing training and knowledge transfer to the security agencies to assist in securing your mining environment, “Greene said.

The US diplomat assured the minister that his country is exploring investment in Nigeria’s mining value chain, noting that the global energy transition from fossil fuels to critical metals makes it imperative for both countries to harness areas of comparative advantage for strategic collaboration.