- Nigeria and US are setting up a working group to work out areas of collaboration in the mining sector.
- The US presidential aide said they were already working with Nigeria on clean energy options to finance.
Nigeria and the United States have continued to explore modalities for partnership on mining sector development, with both countries setting up a working group to work out areas of collaboration. According to the special assistant on media to the minister of solid minerals development, Segun Tomori, the development is a follow-up to last week’s Abuja meeting between the United States Deputy Chief of Mission David Greene and the minister of solid minerals development, Dr Dele Alake on the sidelines of the on-going Investing in Africa Indaba, Cape Town, South Africa, on Tuesday. Dr Alake led the Nigerian government delegation, while the senior advisor to the US president on energy and infrastructure, Amos Hochstein, led the US government.
During the meeting, Hochstein stressed the United States’ interest in working with Nigeria to unlock investments in the mining ecosystem. The areas of interest are infrastructural development, technical assistance in upscaling mining operations and mining industry investment. “Let’s figure out a way between us where we can share whatever you have with our team; then we can work with companies to see what makes sense for the United States to do. We will then look at what the infrastructural needs are to unlock and make those investments more attractive. If you want to build a clean mining sector, you can’t do that without electricity. We are already working with your government on clean energy options for us to finance,” the US presidential aide added.
Regarding financing, the executive secretary of the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), Fatima Shinkafi, stated that a certain percentage of oil resources comes to the fund. She highlighted SMDF’s partnership with the African Finance Corporation (AFC) to deploy more resources to generate more geo-scientific data that will assist investors in making informed decisions on critical minerals. She noted, “Nigeria through the SMDF has resources to co-invest, so it’s not a situation of coming cap in hand without any commensurate contribution.” Both countries nominated members into the working group to commence deliberations in earnest.
On the US team were the acting special coordinator of Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investments, Helaina Matza; regional managing director of the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Ribhuti Jain; deputy CEO, DFC, Nisha Biswal; chief of staff to Amos Hochestein, Lyndsey Mewill, amongst others. On the Nigerian delegation were the director-general (DG), Mining Cadastral Office, Engr. Obadiah Nkom; executive secretary, SMDF, Fatima Shinkafi; DG of the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, Dr. Abdulrasak Garba; director of Investments Promotion and Mineral Trade, Ime Ekrikpo, amongst other top officials of the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development.