By Martha Agas
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, has inaugurated the Nigeria-U.S. Committee on Strategic Cooperation within the Solid Minerals Sector.
The inauguration of the committee adopted the strategic cooperation framework established between Nigeria and the U.S. on the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
This is contained in an announcement issued by Mrs Kania Andeyaba, the Head, Press and Public Relations of the stable minerals to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.
Alake dismissed stories that Nigeria bought 700 billion {dollars} value of mineral belongings to the United States, explaining that the cooperation framework was designed to facilitate funding and know-how switch, not the switch or sale of Nigeria’s mineral belongings.
He stated the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by each international locations offered a government-to-government platform to facilitate business-to-business engagements between American traders and Nigerian mining operators.
According to him, the Nigeria/U.S. partnership is a strategic initiative to draw funding, promote know-how switch, strengthen native mineral processing and create employment alternatives.
He stated the partnership was aimed toward repositioning the stable minerals sector to help President Bola Tinubu’s dedication to the financial diversification agenda and lowering the nation’s dependence on oil.
“The administration of President Tinubu is committed to reducing dependence on a mono-product economy through the sustainable development of Nigeria’s vast mineral resources,” he stated.
Nigeria, he stated, possesses essential minerals wanted for the power transition, making it vital to ascertain partnerships that mix the nation’s pure sources with international capital, experience and know-how.
“So we are creating a new paradigm, you bring your capital, expertise and technology, to match with our natural resources and create a win-win situation. The investor gains, Nigeria gains,” he stated.
The minister stated Nigeria had traditionally relied on oil, whereas stable minerals have been largely extracted and exported with out satisfactory native processing or worth addition.
To that finish, he stated the Federal Government had made native processing a requirement for mineral growth and traders have been anticipated to indicate a transparent plan to course of minerals within the nation earlier than they have been granted mineral licences.
According to him, the coverage has inspired the institution of processing factories together with the just lately inaugurated largest lithium processing plant in West Africa positioned in Nasarawa and the institution of the African Minerals Strategy Group.
He attributed renewed investor confidence to the macroeconomic reforms launched by President Tinubu’s administration, saying it offered assurances on safety of tenure and repatriation of earnings.
He urged the committee to discharge its project responsibly, saying its work was strategic to reaching the President’s one trillion {dollars} economic system.
Alake charged the committee to make sure efficient coordination, determine funding alternatives and translate the framework into measurable outcomes able to positioning Nigeria as a aggressive participant within the world stable minerals business.
In his remarks, Mr Jonathan Baas, the Economic Officer on the U.S. Embassy, stated President Donald Trump had prioritised power, synthetic intelligence and important minerals as key areas of engagement for American embassies.
Baas stated the US was in search of partnerships that might safe essential mineral provide chains whereas enabling accomplice international locations to learn from the worth generated.
The inauguration underscored the Federal Government’s efforts to reposition the stable minerals sector as a driver of financial diversification, industrial growth and nationwide prosperity.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) stories that the settlement is anticipated to make use of the Nigeria and U.S. authorities relationship as a basis to spice up Nigeria’s value-addition-driven worth chain.
The Chairman of the committee is Mr Martins Imonitie, Managing Director of the Nigeria Solid Minerals Corporation and Secretary, Dr Esther Udo – Director, Investment Promotion and Mineral Trade (IPMT) Department.(NAN)
MAA/ YMU
Edited by Yakubu Uba
