Alake leads Solid Mineral Panel in Saudi
towards the actualization of the bilateral relationship to develop Nigeria’s Solid Minerals sector, a Technical Committee has been constituted.
According to a statement from the media team of the Minister of Solid Minerals Development Dr. Dele Alake said the Committee will explore areas of mutual benefits for both countries.
Speaking at the Forum Dr. Alake who was one of the panelists at the opening session of the Future Minerals Youth Forum in Riyadh spoke under the theme “Why the Super Region? Should the Super Region Have Its Own Critical Minerals Strategy?
Also on the panel was the Pakistani Minister of Energy Pakistan, HE VH Muhammed Ali; UK Minister of State for Industry and Economy HE Nosrat Ghani ; Chairman Anglo American, Stuart Chambers; Vice-Chairman CMOC Group, Steele Li and the CEO Ma’adeen, Robert Wilt.
Both countries resolved to strengthen collaboration and enhance the development of solid minerals as the world transits from fossil fuels to cleaner energy Minerals Development.
Dr. Alake emphasized the need to forge partnership as global energy transition is contingent on critical minerals which exists in abundance in Nigeria. “We need a lot of investments in exploration, exploitation, extraction, processing, local value addition. We realize that we must look at regions outside of Africa to collaborate, further consolidate, and enhance our capacity in exploring and exploiting the natural resources that we have. For us to maximally utilize, exploit, and derive maximum revenue for our own economic and infrastructural development, we need to have a very solid partnership with nations like Saudi Arabia”.
He further stated “Saudi Arabia has always displayed good affinity to Nigeria, and it is historical. We have always been desirous of reciprocating this very positive gesture, and there is no better area to ensure that reciprocity than to ensure we consolidate on our partnerships in areas of economic development. We are willing and open to investments in Nigeria, especially in the mining sector”, he asserted.
Dr. Alake made a passionate appeal for investment in local value addition, culminating in production and establishment of factories in Nigeria to generate employment and create a multiplier effect on the economy.
He assured of Nigeria’s readiness to work with their Saudi Arabian counterpart to strategically concretize areas of collaboration within a specific time frame.
He reiterated the incentives for investment of the policy of President Bola Tinubu on repatriation of profits by foreign investors, tax waivers on imported equipment specifically directed at the mining sector and a renewed security architecture which he hinted will soon come on stream to effectively secure mining areas in the country.
The setting up of a joint technical committee partnership with a workable action plan, guided by timelines is expected to harness areas of comparative advantage for mining sector development.