Solid Minerals Development Minister Dele Alake has said Nigeria’s mineral deposits are worth $700 billion.
He said Nigeria’s mineral resources make it one of the top 10 players in the energy sector.
Alake said this at a special session on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the United States of America (U.S.A).
The minister stated Nigeria’s readiness to play an important role in meeting the global demand for critical minerals.
A statement by the Deputy Director Information in the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Alaba Balogun, said Alake spoke on the topic: From Critical Minerals to Energy Transition: Africa in the Driver’s Seat, at the event organised by the Corporate Council of Africa.
He said: “Nigeria has always occupied a special position in global energy discourse. Nigeria played a vital role as a key oil exporter during the era of hydrocarbon and became a top 10 exporter of oil.
“As the face of global energy changes, Nigeria once again emerges as a key supplier of gas, which we know is an important energy transition fuel today. Last year, in the midst of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Nigeria was one of the top exporters of LNG to Europe and was the sixth largest LNG global exporter in 2022.
“As you can see, there is a clear trend: whenever Nigeria is active in the global energy space, it emerges a top 10 global player and it will be no different with critical minerals.
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“Nigeria is endowed with a vast deposit of minerals critical to our new world. In our new world, mobility requires a new form of energy driven by minerals in our new electric vehicle world; technology is more mineral-dependent; our energy source will depend more on the energy converted from the sun and other sources; and energy storage is even more mineral reliant.”
Alake restated the readiness of the current administration to harness the nation’s mineral resources for national development.
He said: “Without a doubt, minerals are a major focus of our world today and rightly so. Nigeria is well positioned to play an important role in our new world. Our solid mineral sector is valued at over USD$700 billion and we know there is more to be discovered. Endowed with critical minerals, Nigeria should not, and dare I say, cannot be ignored.
“We may not have a strong historic mining history like some of our neighbours, such as Ghana, Mali, and those in the South, such as South Africa, Botswana, among others, but things are about to change.”
The minister said lithium hosted pegmatite rocks are available in many states, like Nasarawa, Kwara, Oyo, Kebbi, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), among others, while graphite is found in Kaduna.
“One of the key objectives of the President Bola Tinubu’s administration is to develop the entire value chain in-country, in the case of lithium.
“We want to go from ore to concentrate to lithium hydroxide to end product,” he said.