By | Goodluck E.Adubazi, Abuja
Nigeria and the United States have signed a landmark framework agreement aimed at deepening American investment in Nigeria’s mineral resources, estimated at about $700 billion, in a major push to transform the country’s mining sector.
The agreement was signed and exchanged on Wednesday at Nigeria’s Mission House in New York by Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, and US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.
The framework is expected to leverage the strong bilateral relationship between Nigeria and the United States to facilitate business-to-business transactions and strengthen Nigeria’s value-addition-driven mineral value chain.
Welcoming Landau and members of the US delegation to the signing ceremony, Alake described the agreement as a framework that could shape the future of Nigeria’s mining industry.
“Some agreements manage the present, and some agreements shape the future. The framework we sign today belongs to the second kind,” Alake said.
He said the agreement reflects a shared commitment by both countries to developing secure and resilient supply chains for critical minerals through responsible investment.
According to the minister, Nigeria’s objective is to move beyond the export of raw minerals by promoting domestic processing, developing skills, creating quality jobs and expanding opportunities for Nigerian businesses.
“We are not here to remain a source of raw material for the value that others create. Our goal is to turn potential into lasting value at home through stronger local processing, new skills, quality jobs, and new opportunities for Nigerian businesses,” he said.
Alake said the framework would facilitate cooperation in several areas, including geological data and exploration, mineral development and processing, infrastructure development and technical capacity building.
He added that effective implementation of the agreement would support the economic diversification objectives of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and contribute to industrial growth.
The minister stressed that the signing represented only the beginning of the process, with implementation now the priority.
“Now comes the harder and more important work: moving from agreement to implementation. A signature is a promise, results are the proof,” Alake said.
He added that Nigeria and the United States would, in the coming months, identify viable projects, mobilise investment and establish commercial partnerships capable of delivering measurable benefits to both countries.
US: Nigeria Deserves Strategic Partnership
Responding, US Deputy Secretary of State Landau endorsed the partnership, describing Nigeria as Africa’s most populous country and a regional power that merits a strong partnership with the United States.
Landau said the agreement would create opportunities for greater prosperity in both countries and reaffirmed Washington’s support for Nigeria’s economic development.
“The signal we are sending is that the United States and Nigeria are partners,” Landau said.
He noted that the two countries had expanded their cooperation under the leadership of US President Donald Trump and President Tinubu.
“Under President Trump and President Tinubu’s leadership, the United States and Nigeria have done many things together in the last one and a half years that we’ve never done before. I think we will like to keep building on that momentum,” he said.
The US delegation at the ceremony included Deputy Assistant Secretary for West African Affairs Rich Michaels; Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Southern Africa, Foreign Assistance and Critical Minerals Chris Kulukundis; Senior Policy Adviser to the Deputy Secretary Wyatt Toehlkeke; and Jitu Sardar.
Also present at the ceremony were Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Engr. Yusuf Yabo; Director-General of the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office, Engr. Simon Nkom; Executive Secretary of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, Hajiya Fatima Shinkafi; and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Solid Minerals Company, Martin Imonitie.
The agreement marks a significant step in Nigeria’s efforts to attract international capital and technical expertise into the mining sector while increasing domestic value addition and strengthening the country’s position in global critical-mineral supply chains.
