Nigeria, US strengthen partnership towards mining development
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake has described the United States (US) as strategic partner in the development of the nation’s mining sector.
This was contained in a statement by the Special Assistant to minister on Media Mr Segun Tomori in Abuja.
Dr Alake who received the Charge d’Affairs, US Embassy, David Greene in his office lauded the United Stats’s cooperation with Nigeria in diverse sectors of the economy and underscores the significance smooth bilateral relations between both countries.
The Minister welcomed the partnership with the US on investments in the mining value chain, expanding access to technology in extracting and processing minerals and securing mining areas.
He notified his guest on reforms by the Federal Government, such as the revised Community Development Agreement (CDA) guidelines geared towards reducing friction in host communities; on-going plans for new security architecture to secure natural resources; efforts to generate big geo-data; the formalization of artisanal miners into cooperatives amongst others.
“The mining sector provides a veritable avenue for increased trade between Nigeria and the United States, especially in the area of value addition, which implies processing of extracted minerals and setting up factories here. We would also require financing from multilateral institutions for our local operators. We are providing incentives for investments like tax waivers for mining equipment, policy of full repatriation of profits to home countries amongst others, “Dr. Alake emphasised.
In his remarks, the US Ambassador commended the renewed interest of Nigeria in solid minerals, stressing that the sector has huge potential to the nation’s economy like oil.
“Nigeria and US have had decades of cultural ties, cooperation in security agriculture amongst others. Your mining sector has huge potentials and we are interested in collaborating to invest in extracting and processing of minerals alongside providing training and knowledge transfer to the security agencies to assist in securing your mining environment, “Grene asserted.
The US diplomat assured the Minister of his country’s investment in Nigeria’s mining value chain, noting that the global energy transition from fossil fuels to critical metals makes it imperative for both countries to harness areas of comparative advantage for strategic collaboration.
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