Alake led a delegation of Nigerian officials to the Commonwealth headquarters in London last week, where he met with the Senior Director, Trade, Oceans and Natural Resources Department, Paul Kautoke, and other experts in the field of mineral development.
The minister said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has identified the solid minerals sector as a pillar of Nigeria’s current efforts to diversify the economy. He said the ministry has developed a Seven Point Agenda that includes the establishment of a solid minerals company, gathering of Big Data on mineral reserve to de-risk investments, improved security to keep the mines safe and socio-economic development of mining communities through effective community development agreements.
He said the Commonwealth, as an institution that has developed expertise over many years, should support the Tinubu administration’s efforts. Nigeria, a former British colony, is a member of the 54-member Commonwealth.
Kautoke commended the delegation for visiting the Commonwealth secretariat and said Nigeria, as a coastal country, could explore the profitable prospects of extraction of deep-sea minerals such as copper, cobalt, nickel, gold and rare earth elements. He said many Commonwealth countries in the Pacific region were making inroads in the seep sea mining subsector and promised that the Commonwealth could assist to develop a policy for Nigeria.
Also addressing the forum, Director, Natural Resources, Victor Kitange, Trade and Investment Adviser, Opeyemi Abebe, Economic Adviser, Trade, Ocean and Natural Resources, Daniel Wilder and Adviser, Ocean Governance Allison Swaddling spoke about the progress achieved in deep sea mining and expressed concerns that African countries were lagging behind.
While Swaddling said there are online training programmes developed by the department, Abebe, who recalled working with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council to develop capacity, offered to provide similar assistance to get Nigeria into deep sea mining.
Alake said the discussion has brought a new dimension to mineral development and promised that the ministry would study the dimension of deep-sea mining in collaboration with other ministries and put together a country proposal for further consideration.