From Cyril Mbah, Abuja.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has offered mouth-watering incentives to attract foreign investors willing to invest in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.
The incentives include seamless transfer of profits, tax and duty waivers on imported mining machinery, as well as assurances for security of lives and properties nationwide, among others.
These assurances were among several incentives offered to investors by Nigeria at the ongoing Resourcing Tomorrow Annual Exbibition and Conference in London.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, who led Nigeria’s delegates to the event unveiled the package in his address to participants, which included global mining companies.
Alake stated that the country was ready for investment in the solud minerals sector and he impressed participants at the opening ceremony with the country’s investment breakthroughs in processing minerals, citing over $2billion inflow to lithium and rare earth ores projects in the last two years.
The Fedeal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development (MSMD), said in a statement on Tuesday that the minister argued in favour of foreign direct investments, which he stated, were the outcomes of the policy on value addition being driven by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to stop pit to port export and stimulate local beneficiation.
“Since last year, companies such as Canmax Technologies, Jiuling Lithium, Avatar New Energy Nigeria Limited, and Asba group have collectively invested over 1.3 billion US dollars in lithium processing projects across Nigeria. These are not speculative ventures; they are bricks, mortar, and machinery.
“Just outside Abuja, the Federal Capital of Nigeria, construction is underway for a 50-million-dollar lithium processing plant, the first in a network of industrial clusters that will extend through Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara, and Ebonyi states.
“On November 19, this year, Nigeria broke new grounds in the processing of rare earth ores with the groundbreaking of the $400million rare earth plant of the Hasetins group. It is expected to be ready in 15 months. Also, a multi- billion dollar iron ore to steel project using the latest technology is in the pipeline,” the minister disclosed.
He said the administration established the Mining Marshals to enforce the mining laws and protect miners and is strengthening the security architecture with satellite technology that will track mining operations nationwide.
The minister presented the Nigeria Solid Minerals Company as the government’s partner of choice for joint venture business that leverages on mineral assets inherited from the Nigerian Mining Corporation to meet partners’ demands.
His words: “The NSMC embodies our philosophy of shared prosperity through shared investment. It functions as a sovereign partner, co-investing in high-value mineral projects, de-risking exploration, and catalyzing downstream processing”.
While assuring the over 1,000 participants at the Resourcing Tomorrow Conference that the government has done the needful to prepare the solid minerals sector for investment, the Minister said the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency and exploration investors have covered over 80 percent of the country with geological mapping.
Besides, he said, the Tinubu administration has finalised the Solid Minerals Export Guidelines to align the country’s export system with international traceability, environmental and governance standards.
Addressing concerns of the conference on the declining delivery of global supply chain systems, Alake advocated local value addition in source countries as the win-win solution .
He narrated how the decision of ministers of mining in Africa to form the Africa Minerals Support Group is influencing the formulation of local beneficiation policies across the continent.
Drawing examples of domestic integration from Nigeria, Alake said several states in Nigeria run mining companies thus developing a sense of belonging.
He also cited the signing of 427 community development agreements between Nigerian communities and mining companies as a key strategy to ensure that economic, social and governance principles are applied in Nigeria’s mining sector.
