\n The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, disclosed this during a panel session at the Powering Africa Summit in Washington, D.C., where policymakers and investors discussed Africa\u2019s role in meeting rising global demand for minerals used in electric vehicles, batteries and renewable energy technologies.\n <\/p>\n
\n Speaking on the panel titled \u201cCritical Minerals in Africa: Meeting Global Demand,\u201d Alake said recent reforms in Nigeria\u2019s mining sector, including digitised licensing, improved regulation and tighter security, had helped restore investor confidence and attract new capital.\n <\/p>\n
\n He said the government has also moved to tackle illegal mining through a special enforcement unit known as the Mining Marshals, which has arrested more than 350 suspects in the past year, with over 150 cases already in court.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe have successfully de-risked and sanitised the mining environment, making it conducive to foreign direct investment,\u201d Alake said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Push for regional energy and mining corridors\n <\/p>\n
\n Beyond domestic reforms, Nigeria is pushing for broader African cooperation to strengthen the continent\u2019s role in global mineral supply chains.\n <\/p>\n
\n Alake urged the United States and African governments to support the development of regional energy hubs and industrial corridors to power cross-border mining operations and local processing.\n <\/p>\n
\n He pointed to existing infrastructure initiatives such as the Lobito Corridor as models that could be replicated across the continent.\n <\/p>\n
\n Similar corridors, he said, could be developed along the Lagos\u2013Abidjan Corridor in West Africa and the Walvis Bay Corridor in Southern Africa to support mining, manufacturing and regional trade.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n According to him, shared energy infrastructure, including large-scale power projects, could support multiple countries within a corridor, reducing costs and encouraging local mineral processing rather than exporting raw materials.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf three to five such corridors are developed in Africa, we would significantly advance industrialisation across the continent, creating a win-win outcome for both Africa and the West,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Reforms aimed at diversifying Nigeria\u2019s economy\n <\/p>\n
\n Nigeria has long relied on oil for government revenue, but the sector\u2019s volatility and declining production have pushed authorities to accelerate efforts to diversify the economy.\n <\/p>\n
\n Mining, which contributes less than one per cent to GDP, has been identified as a priority sector due to Nigeria\u2019s deposits of lithium, gold, tin and other critical minerals.\n <\/p>\n
\n Alake said reforms introduced over the past two and a half years now guarantee secure tenure for mining licences, a key demand from investors who require long-term stability before committing capital to exploration and processing projects.\n <\/p>\n
\n To further attract investment, the government is offering tax waivers on imported mining equipment, allowing full repatriation of profits after taxes and royalties, and expanding access to certified geological data to reduce exploration risk.\n <\/p>\n
\n U.S. lenders signal interest, but warn on stability\n <\/p>\n
\n At the same event, Sarah Whitten of the Export-Import Bank of the United States said American financial institutions are willing to support mining projects in Africa, particularly those linked to the energy transition, but stressed that political stability and consistent policies remain critical.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAmerican banks are ready to support projects, but our role is to catalyse and unlock private sector capital,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The discussion also included government officials and executives from mining investment firms and technology companies, reflecting growing international competition for access to Africa\u2019s mineral resources as countries race to secure materials needed for clean-energy technologies.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, disclosed this during a panel session at the Powering Africa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":["post-353736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}